Member of the Pack
by WolfWarriorWoman
Summary: A typical day turns hairy for Benson as he finds himself bitten by a strange creature. As he slowly begins changing into something barely beyond his control, can the park gang help save him before its too late? Rated T for some language and content.
1. A Regular Day

**Disclaimer: "Regular Show" does not belong to me. It is property of its creator J.G Quintel and Cartoon Network. Any non-canon characters are however credited to me.**

Chapter 1: A Regular Day

It was a cool and quiet Thursday morning as the sun started to peek through the curtains of Benson's apartment complex. Said gumball machine was currently still asleep until the electronic blaring of his alarm clock, which read 7:00 am, sounded waking him from his slumber. Grunting he haphazardly reached to turn off the screeching device, missing a few times in the process, before finally slamming the power button off. Sighing he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Another day with those idiots," Benson muttered grimly (naturally referring to Mordecai and Rigby) as he got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. Half an hour later he was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper having just finished a bowl of cereal and enjoying a cup of coffee from his favorite "World's Best Boss" mug (though he would never openly admit it). Nothing in the paper really caught his attention even though there were a few rather strange stories of things such as "my car was vandalized by a guy wielding a samurai sword" and more. Living in this town and working at the park, Benson had seen a lot so these things never really fazed him anymore.

"Most of those things are usually Mordecai and Rigby's fault anyway," Benson mused inwardly before checking the time. It was currently 8:15. While he didn't have to show up at the park until around 9:00, Benson decided it was best to get a jumpstart on some of the tasks that needed tending to before the morning meeting. Benson got up from his seat and rinsed out his coffee mug, placing it on the dish rack to dry before grabbing his car keys from the kitchen table. After double-checking to make sure everything was locked up tight, he grabbed a light jacket and headed out locking his apartment door behind him.

* * *

As Benson drove to work, his mind went over the tasks that needed to be taken care of at the park. He was a little behind on some of the paperwork but fortunately he could get it taken care of easily before the day got out. What mainly needed to be done was typical groundskeeper work, which he could leave to Skips, Pops and everyone else. Well, almost everyone else. Thoughts of Mordecai and Rigby and their slacker ways instantly soured his mood. Growling he forced those thoughts out of his head as the park came into view but what he saw made him immediately slam on his brakes. In the center of the park was what looked like a cross between a giant green lizard and a slug (evident by the large red eyestalks that swiveled every direction as it roared). Not far from it was a floating and rather irate wizard, splattered with what looked like some sort of food, yelling commands to the beast to destroy everything in the park. However, what wasn't quite as surprising was who was running away from the whole mess and, if Benson had to guess, was likely the cause of it all: Mordecai and Rigby. Giving an angry growl, Benson drove his station wagon through the park gate and screeched to a halt alongside Mordecai, Rigby and where the other park employees (minus Thomas who had classes that morning) were taking cover behind a large oak tree.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Benson yelled angrily getting out of his car and slamming the door.

"Benson, uh, well…" Rigby started out before Mordecai interrupted.

"Rigby ticked off that wizard dude by pranking him with egg salad and a water balloon."

"MY NAME IS MARVIN!" The wizard shout before he hurled a lightning bolt at the tree where they took refuge. Benson gave the raccoon a hard glare.

"It was Mordecai's idea!" Rigby immediately defended.

"Was not!" The blue jay replied.

"ENOUGH! I'll deal with you two later," Benson shouted before turning his attention back to the real problem at hand.

"How do we stop that monstrosity?" Pops asked with concern. Benson thought for a minute before turning to Skips.

"Skips, we still have those bags of rock salt that we use to pave the sidewalks in winter, right?" The yeti thought for a minute before answering.

"Yeah, they're in the shed behind the house."

"But how are we going to get over there without getting wasted?" Muscle Man asked right as a mangled park bench was hurled some feet away from where the park employees were hiding.

"Not we, _you two_," Benson stated pointing to Mordecai and Rigby.

"What?!" Both employees protested. "But Benson, that dude might kill us."

"You two started this mess and you two are going to fix it OR ELSE YOU'RE FIRED!" Benson yelled right before the monster uprooted the tree they were hiding behind.

"LOOK OUT!" Skips shouted just as the monster took in a breath. The park workers barely had time to get out of the way before it let out a burst of fire from its maw, torching the ground where they once stood. Mordecai and Rigby stood stunned at the damage until their boss's yells snapped them out of it.

"MORDECAI. RIGBY. GO NOW!"

"Uh, right. Come on Rigby," Mordecai motioned as they both sprinted towards the shed. The wizard (or Marvin) saw this and commanded the beast to pursue. The two weaved between trees and jumped hedges to evade their pursuer but was ultimately useless. Thankfully, they managed to reach the shed in one piece and took shelter inside slamming the door behind them.

"Hurry and find the rock salt!" Mordecai exclaimed as he held the door shut with the weight of his whole body as the wizard started banging on it. Rigby hastily tore the place apart trying to find the bags before spotting them in the corner.

"I got 'em." Rigby stated grabbing a bag.

"Yeah, but now what?" Mordecai asked just as the door blew off its hinges and the monster tore off the roof to the shed. Both screamed fearing this was the end when suddenly what looked like a sandbag was hurled at the monster's head, which burst on impact, scattering sand and temporarily blinding the beast. Mordecai and Rigby turned their heads to see Benson driving up in his car with Pops in the passenger seat and followed by a golf cart driven by Muscle Man with High Five Ghost and Skips (who had thrown the sandbag) holding on from the rear to help put an end to the chaos.

"What are you waiting for? Open a bag and finish it off already!" Benson shouted as everyone evacuated their respective vehicles.

"What's that supposed to do?" Rigby questioned.

"Are you serious?" Benson said in disbelief. "It's part snail or slug right. What do you think happens when you put salt on a slug." Understanding what Benson was getting at, Mordecai and Rigby nodded at each other before ripping open the bag and each taking one end.

"Hey Marvin." Mordecai shouted getting the wizard's attention, who was trying to calm his monster's agitation from the leftover sand in its eyes. "What kind of lame monster gets upset over a little sand?"

"Yeah, that's just like some old loser in a wizard's outfit getting a upset over a little egg salad spill," Rigby added egging him on. Seething at the remarks, Marvin commanded his monster to swallow them whole. Letting out an angry roar, the monster complied and lunged at the two.

"Now!" Mordecai shouted as they both swung the open bag of salt straight into the beast's gaping jaws, swallowing it whole. The creature instantly stopped its attack and recoiled in pain as an ominous gurgling noise came from within it. Knowing what was going to come next, the park gang took shelter underneath the shed's torn off roof just in time before the beast exploded into a million nasty chunks. Marvin, who wasn't quite so lucky, also took the full brunt of the explosion and was sent flying into the distant horizon (or at the very least the other side of town). When the damage was done, the park employees emerged from the wreck to survey the damage. The park as a whole was worse for wear with scorch marks, uprooted trees and smashed and wrecked park property littered all around (including the damaged shed).

"Man, am I glad that's over," Rigby stated nonchalantly with a relieved sigh. Benson however didn't feel the same as he felt his anger rise. He turned and was about to give both slackers an earful when a loud creaking noise was heard. A split second later one of the trees that had taken some heavy damage from the rampage toppled over and crashed right on top of Benson's car. The park employees were gravely silent at the turn in bad luck and Benson could only stare as he processed what just happened before turning a darker shade of red, gumballs within his metal body rattling with rage before he let out a yell of raw anger. He turned sharply and gave Mordecai and Rigby a glare so fierce it made them shrink back considerably.

"Uh, Benson—"

"NO! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! YOU TWO ARE SO UNBELEIVABLY—" However, before Benson could finish giving out the dreaded command of termination, the phone from inside the house started to ring. Figuring it was important and not wanting to stick around for the harsh words that were to follow, Pops ran inside to answer it. Benson, deciding to hold his tongue at least until Pops was off the phone so as to not cause an unwanted scene, followed along with everyone else out of curiosity. Benson approached the back door where Pops was speaking into the receiver saying things such as "I see," and "alright" before giving his attention to Benson and covering the mouthpiece.

"Benson, its for you. It's Papa." Benson's heart sunk. Mr. Maellard doesn't call unless it's something important. "It couldn't be possible that he somehow already found out about what just happened is there?" Benson mentally questioned. Swallowing his fears he took the phone from Pops and answered it.

"Yes sir," he answered before his boss's harsh and loud words caused him to pull the phone away from his ear for a moment before putting the phone back to his ear. "Yes sir I…N-No sir I…Yes I…" Benson tried to communicate with Mr. Maellard but it was clear it was a one sided conversation but concerning what the others weren't quite sure. "…I understand Mr. Maellard. We'll take care of everything before you get here…Alright sir, see you in a few—" before Benson could finish his sentence the dial tone from the other line could be heard indicating he had hung up before Benson could finish. "—Days."

"What did Papa have to say Benson?" Pops inquired as Benson hung up the phone and turned to the group.

"Mr. Maellard said he'd be coming by for a surprise park evaluation and he wants everything up to par by the time he gets here…or else."

"Did he say when exactly?" Skips asked.

"No, just that it would be in a few days and at any time, which means if we want any hope in passing we're going to have to get our acts together and fast."

Benson turned to Mordecai and Rigby specifically. "Unfortunately, this also means right now I can't afford to fire you two. But I'm warning you two you are on _VERY. THIN. ICE._" Benson stated emphasizing each word as he felt his anger resurface again."So I suggest you do your jobs and do them right OR ELSE! STARTING WITH THE MESS YOU TWO CREATED OUTSIDE!" He yelled seething. Mordecai and Rigby nodded and bolted outside to get started. Benson let out a heavily aggravated sigh and rubbed his temples in an effort to calm himself down before turning to the other employees.

"First things first, we have to take care of the mess outside before we can focus on anything else. Skips, I need you to handle rebuilding whatever park property got damaged in the chaos." Skips gave a nod and a grunt before skipping off to get started.

"Muscle Man and High Fives, you two will have to take care of the trees that got uprooted and replant new ones as well as replacing the patches of grass that got burned."

"Not a problem, I know a guy who can hook us up with what we need," Muscle Man said.

"Just get it done," Benson said as the two walked off. "Pops, I'm going to need you to help out with cleaning up the debris around the house and the park. And keep an eye on those two idiots (Mordecai and Rigby) to make sure they're actually doing their jobs. With all this damage I have a lot more paperwork to do."

"'Tis no trouble my good man. Do what you need and we'll handle the rest," Pops assured before leaving to do his appointed tasks and leaving the gumball machine. Letting out another aggravated sigh and rubbing his face with his hands, he headed into his office to get started on the damage claims once again.

* * *

Several hours passed before the piles of additional paperwork began to dwindle to a more manageable amount. Leaning back in his chair and stretching his limbs, Benson looked to the clock that now read 2:15 pm. Figuring it was best to take a quick break for a late lunch and check everyone's progress on the repairs, Benson got up from his desk and proceeded to the kitchen. Fixing himself a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Benson sat at the table and ate in silence. Just as he finished, Skips entered from the back door covered in dirt and grease stains.

"How are the repairs coming along?" Benson inquired.

"Not bad actually," Skips answered with a shrug. "I just finished rebuilding the smashed benches and the shed and also took care of some other minor damages around the park and house."

"What about everyone else?"

"Thomas showed up about an hour ago and is helping Muscle Man and High Fives replant the lawn and trees and Pops is helping Mordecai and Rigby with clearing out the debris from the park. It should all be taken care of completely in a few hours." Benson gave a relieved sigh.

"Good, that's at least one thing off my mind," Benson said.

"What about you?" the immortal yeti asked as he skipped to the fridge and got himself a sandwich of his own before taking a seat opposite of Benson. "How's the paperwork coming?"

"As well as can be expected," Benson answered as the yeti took a few bites of his meal. "The damage claims and most of the reports are taken care of but there's still a little left that needs to be done. Not to mention my car is going to be in the shop for at least two weeks while it's being repaired."

"We can chip in to get you some bus tokens if you need it," Skips offered after swallowing his food.

"Don't worry about it Skips. Besides, I don't live too far away."

"Fair enough," Skips admitted before taking another bite of his sandwich. "But since you only got a little left to do, why don't you take a break? Maybe walk around the park to clear your head. You look like you could use it," Skips suggested.

"Thanks but I think that would do more harm than good," Benson replied thinking of what would happen if he caught Mordecai and Rigby slacking off even if Pops _was_ with them. He didn't want to waste any more time or energy getting angry if it meant he could get more work out of the way. "Anyway, this technically _is _my break. I just needed a bite to eat before I take care of the rest of today's reports."

"Well," Skips started after finishing the last of his sandwich. "I think you should at least take it easy for tonight Benson. You know, it's nearly the end of the month and we haven't had any time for the park worker's monthly activity night." Benson thought for a bit and realized Skips had a point. At least once a month, or on a special occasion, everyone at the park would meet up after work and just have a good time either bowling, going out to eat at some new restaurant, or even enjoying game night at the house. It had been nearly a month and a half since the last time they had it.

"True," Benson admitted.

"Maybe we could have a movie night. I overheard there was a good deal at the Movie Shack Hut and I got coupons for a couple films that looked kind of interesting."

"Oh, what's this now?" a familiar voice asked. Benson and Skips turned to see

Pops enter looking a bit grungy from hauling the debris to the dump.

"We were just talking about how we could have a little movie night tonight for the Park's monthly activity night," Skips replied.

"Oh, that sounds like a splendid idea," Pops agreed clapping his hands together in glee. "Benson we will partake in movie night won't we?" Benson considered it and thought maybe they had a valid point. Who knew, maybe a little R and R would help boost worker morale for the upcoming evaluation or at least help as some kind of de-stressor, granted if Mordecai and Rigby didn't screw something up again.

"Alright," Benson conceded with a sigh.

"Oh good show. Jolly good show," Pops cheered with his usual high-pitched laugh.

"But first we have to finish the clean-up job and I need to finish today's paperwork. Pops, let the others know and Skips you get the movies." Both employees gave a smile and a nod before leaving to take care of their new tasks. Benson gave a tired sigh before heading back into his office to finish his work, unaware of the strange presence that watched him from the kitchen window.

* * *

Author's Notes: How's that for the first chapter? Since this is the first time I'm writing a Regular Show fanfiction I wanted to be sure I kept the same amount of strangeness and work in a little logic to make it kind of realistic too. Let me know what you liked and how I did so I need to know what I need to improve. Since I've officially graduated (yay!) that means I'm going to be looking for a job and whenever I'm not job hunting I'll be writing. This means I'll likely be posting chapters once a week (maybe a week and a half). So until the next chapter, please read, review, and enjoy!


	2. Attack on Gumball (Machines)

Chapter 2: Attack on Gumball (Machines)

Around 6:00, all the repairs and paperwork from the day's fiasco were finally completed and most of the park gang, with the exception of Mordecai and Rigby, was clustered on the couch and in easy chairs (that were kept around in case there was ever other company at the house) in the living room where the TV and VCR were set up.

"Hurry up ladies. The movie's about to start," Muscle Man barked eager for the snacks the two were rustling up. Ignoring the comment, Mordecai and Rigby entered the room carrying a giant bowl of popcorn and some other snacks and sodas for everyone.

"Aw yeayuh! Movie night," Rigby chimed as he and Mordecai took their seats next to Pops on the couch and grabbed a handful of popcorn stuffing it into his mouth.

"Don't think you two are still off the hook for what happened today," Benson reminded sharply from his seat.

"Now, now," Pops intervened. "Today is over with now; let's just enjoy the movies we rented."

"What movies did you rent anyway Skips?" Mordecai asked out of curiosity.

"Well, one's a cop-buddy flick, the other is a comedy about these three guys on a road trip and the last one is some kind of monster movie," Skips answered.

"Oh, monster movie first!" Rigby exclaimed excitedly.

"We're not watching the monster movie," Benson cut in sharply.

"Aw what?" Mordecai and Rigby questioned.

"You guys know how Pops is with scary stuff," Benson reminded.

"I'll be quite alright Benson," Pops assured. "It was just that one Halloween."

"Yeah, and if we watch the monster movie before the other movies he'll barely remember the first film later on," Skips added from the seat next to Benson.

"Ugh, Fine," Benson conceded with a sigh. Mordecai and Rigby cheered with their usual "Ooooooohhhh" and twirling in circles from their spots on the couch over to the VCR before putting in the tape and pressing the play button. The monster movie, which was a werewolf flick strangely enough, turned out to actually be fairly more decent than Benson had expected and Pops truly seemed to not have any problems with the film even with some of the jump scares, which he managed to laugh off easily. However, more than halfway into the film, Benson's eyelids began to droop and was close to dozing off a few times. This of course did not go unnoticed by a certain yeti.

"You doing alright Benson?"

"Huh?" Benson asked jerking awake from nearly dozing off again.

"Dude, you look pretty tired Benson," Thomas said.

"I'm fine," Benson assured with a wave of his hand.

"Maybe you should turn in early for the night," Skips suggested.

"Indeed," Pops added. "You shouldn't burn the candle at both ends Benson. It's simply not good for you."

"Yeah, and who falls asleep during a monster movie?" Muscle Man asked rhetorically.

"Well, actually—" Thomas started before being cut off by Muscle Man.

"Nobody asked you Thomas." Benson knew that they had a point and he honestly didn't think he could stay awake for the other two movies much less this one.

"I guess I will call it a night after all," Benson admitted getting up from his seat, grabbing and putting on his jacket and heading to the front door. "I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Benson, why don't you stay here for the night since you're car is at the shop," Pops offered. "You could stay in the guest room."

"Thanks Pops but I think I'll be alright walking home." With that said, Benson left through the front door and headed down the park path towards the gate.

* * *

Once on city streets, the streetlights illuminated Benson's path since the final rays of the sun had long since extinguished from behind the tall buildings. Exhausted, Benson let his mind wander as he trudged for home. "I wonder if I had seen what kind of career working at the park was really like, I'd choose differently," Benson internally wondered. Ever since he first struck out on his own when he turned 21, he vowed to live life to the fullest. Of course, back then he was young and impetuous.

"Kind of like a certain blue jay and raccoon," a small voice at the back of his head spoke up. Shaking his head at the thought and went back to his original musings. When he was younger he always wanted to make his living being in a band. At first he could only get a few small time gigs until one day he met who he thought was the girl of his dreams. Veronica, a female gumball machine whom Benson thought was his soul mate. At first they were inseparable but unfortunately it didn't last. Veronica ultimately wasn't satisfied with his current lifestyle and in the end left him for a businessman.

Heartbroken, Benson tried to move on and eventually landed it big when he was recruited as a drummer for the up and coming band Hair to the Throne. For a while his life was looking up and he thought that maybe deep down Veronica would see how much of a success he had become and come back to him. Sadly it never happened as he was eventually kicked out of the band by his jealous and bitter band mates for actually managing to play the drum solo that was deemed "impossible" (though maybe the fact that he was always rather pushy during practice also partly contributed to it).

He had tried other things such as pinball and stick hockey tournaments, which he had always been fond of since a lot of the action was in the wrists and being a drummer he was a natural. He even met his first real friend Dave, another young gumball machine who was impressed by Benson's skills and wanted to learn from him. Whenever they weren't practicing they were hanging out or just having fun. For half a year, they dominated the competition. Until, once again, life decided to screw Benson over and he lost his best friend thanks to Chong in the last stick hockey tournament he ever willingly played (except for the time he saved Mordecai and Rigby's skins from Chong in that savage underground stick hockey tournament).

Down on his luck and desperate for a stable source of income, it was by a major stroke of luck (or perhaps fate) that he bumped into Pops at a bar of all places. Apparently the lolliman was looking to get away from one of Mr. Maellard's fancy get-togethers and unintentionally ended up there. After talking and a couple of drinks Pops, who had at the time just been entrusted by his father with caring for the park, offered Benson a job as manager and the rest was history. It wasn't easy at first, especially when Mr. Maellard found out of Benson's hiring and immediately didn't approve upon finding out how he was hired in the first place. But Benson worked hard every day to meet his boss's expectations even up to the present and only rarely did he ever meet them enough to Maellard's satisfaction. Deep down Benson guessed that was probably why he was so harsh so Mordecai and Rigby to begin with; he didn't want to see them go through the same things he did. Unfortunately, they don't see that and sometimes he can't help but wonder if he was just wasting his time.

Letting out a sigh for the millionth time that day, Benson stopped walking to tilt his head back and just take in the night air to hopefully clear his mind of less dismal thoughts until the sound of something moving quickly in the shadows caught Benson's attention from the alley behind him. Startled, Benson waited for something or someone to exit or move but several moments passed and nothing did, though he could feel the eyes of something watching him closely. Cautiously, he started walking down the sidewalk again. At first there were no signs of anything pursuing him but as Benson continued on the eyes he felt on him continued watching his every move. Unsettled he picked up the pace but the eyes still stayed on him intently until he finally reached his apartment complex. Bursting through the door, Benson caught his breath and looked outside to see if he could find whatever caused the creepy sensation but found nothing. Believing he was just being paranoid from the day's events he decided to put it out of his mind. He turned to head to his floor when he noticed the landlord who was reading the paper giving him strange look.

"Uh, sorry," Benson apologized rubbing the back of his head. The landlord however just rolled his eyes and went back to his paper muttering "weirdo" under his breath. Benson heard the unflattering comment but chose to ignore it as he went up the stairs to his floor.

* * *

Once on his floor, Benson felt the exhaustion return ten-fold. Fumbling the keys out of his jacket pocket he was about to unlock his door when the sound of the apartment door behind him opened.

"Benson?" Knowing who was addressing him, Benson turned.

"Hey Audrey," Benson responded with a tired grin. "I didn't wake you did I?"

"It's only 8:30," she replied with a light chuckle.

"Oh," Benson only said slightly embarrassed. "Sorry, I guess my sense of time's a little off."

"Long day huh?" Audrey asked with a gentle smile.

"You have no idea," Benson said returning with a small smile of his own.

"Well listen, I'm glad I caught you. I wanted to ask you something," Audrey said fidgeting with her pink skirt a bit.

"O-Okay," he replied sheepishly. "Shoot."

"Well, it's been a while since we got to spend any time together and I was wondering if you wanted to…I don't know, maybe have dinner together or something."

"Uh, well…" Benson was stunned at the sudden invitation. Happy of course, but stunned. Before Benson could reply, Audrey spoke up first.

"I mean, I know you're a busy guy with your job at the park and all. But I just thought that maybe, you know—" Audrey started in a tone that didn't try to hide her discouragement at the thought of Benson refusing.

"No, no, no. I'd love to!" Benson interrupted hastily.

"Really?" Audrey asked perking up slightly.

"Absolutely," Benson assured. "It's just that…Well, my car's in the shop for some, uh, body work and I wouldn't want to impose by asking for a ride."

"It's not a problem," Audrey replied. "How about I stop by the park tomorrow sometime around 7:00 and we can figure out where to go from there."

"Uh, ok. I'll see you tomorrow." Audrey gave a smile and wished him goodnight as Benson returned it before turning the lock to his apartment door and going inside. Once inside, Benson slowly felt a smile creep onto his face as he let out a content sigh for the first time that day.

"Maybe today wasn't so bad after all," Benson inwardly mused as he slipped his jacket off and tossed it onto the back of his recliner. As he made his way to his bedroom for some rest it wasn't until he passed by the kitchen that his eye caught the calendar's marked date.

"Oh right, garbage pickup is tomorrow," Benson muttered. Deciding to take care of it quickly, Benson collected the trash from all the other rooms in his apartment, stuffing it into the trash bag in the kitchen and hauling it outside, down the stairs and out the rear door leading to the alley behind the apartment complex. After heaving the bag into the dumpster he gave a satisfied nod and turned to head back inside. But suddenly, just before he reached the door's steps, the sound of a trashcan lid overturning and clanging to the ground startled Benson into turning around. Remembering the creepiness that happened on his way home Benson was immediately on alert.

"Who's there?" No reply came from the dimly lit alleyway. "I'm warning you, I've got the cops on speed dial. So quit loitering and get out of here," Benson warned but still no answer was given. Instead a low growl emanated from the darkness as a pair of glowing red eyes stared Benson down. Losing his bravado, Benson took a retreating step back but before he could bolt inside, the strange figure lunged out of the shadows and tackled the gumball machine to the ground. Letting out a cry, Benson went down as he tried to get out from under the creature's grasp. In the dim light, all Benson could make out was the strange creature's furry body, long, narrow snout, sharp claws and menacing fangs as well as lightning bolt-shaped scar that went across its right eye. In a panic, Benson let loose a random punch at the beast's face but did little damage. In fact, Benson could have sworn he saw a smirk on the creature's face right before it bit down on his right arm that was still somewhat extended out from the thrown punch. Letting out a yell of pain, Benson tried to get out of the creature's grasp once more before noticing a discarded metal pipe not far from his reach. Grabbing the pipe, he swung with his left arm and struck the creature as hard as he could, which was just enough to get him other arm free. Using both hands this time, Benson swung again and this time was successful at getting the beast off of him. With a yelp as it retreated out of the alley and into the darkness of the night.

"AND DON'T COME BACK!" Benson hollered hurling the pipe after the retreating creature. He stood panting from the rush of adrenaline until the throbbing in his bitten arm caught his attention. Grunting in discomfort, Benson clutched his arm and went back inside and up to his apartment to treat the injury. Reaching the medicine cabinet he pulled out bandages and disinfectant before rinsing and cleaning the wound in the sink. Thankfully, the bite mark wasn't too deep.

"It's times like this I'm glad I'm made of a pretty tough metal," Benson thought as he applied the disinfectant with a wince. "Still stings like hell though." After some difficulty tying the bandage on his arm, he was all patched up and flexed his arm a few times to make sure the bandage didn't come undone. Satisfied with his work, he turned to the window to see if he could catch any sign of the thing that bit him in case it was still lingering around the building but from what he could tell it was long gone. He considered calling Animal Control to report it but honestly didn't feel like wanting to waste any more time with this mess. More than anything he just wanted to sleep. Letting out a tired sigh, he pushed all thoughts of everything other than sleep from his mind and crawled into bed. Once the light was off and his alarm was set for the morning it didn't take long for Benson to drift off to sleep.

Unfortunately his slumber was not a sound one. All throughout the night he tossed and turned, grunting and sweating as something within him began to slowly change. The bite mark that was illuminated by the faint moonlight that shone through his window began to pulse and glow in a soft light of its own. Even if Benson didn't know it yet, things were far from over.

* * *

Author's Notes: Another chapter down and a whole day early. I have to say I rather enjoyed writing this one especially the passage of Benson's past (at least of how I interpreted it). But a lot of it I can't really take full credit for. The Veronica thing was actually meant to be part of the storyboard as a flashback for the episode "Mordecai and the Rigbys" before it was edited out. Check out "Benson: The Last to Know" on DeviantART for better understanding. It's a little fan-made comic where the last eight or so scenes are the actual storyboard pictures. As for the bar scene with Pops, that was inspired by a comic also on DeviantART called "A Regular Beginning" by dragon-master09 (though there's only 4 pages so I kind of had to fudge the rest). Check out her work to see what I mean. Anyways, the next chapter will be out hopefully by this time next week but I make no promises since I'm still job hunting. In the meantime please read, review, and enjoy!


	3. Changes

Chapter 3: Changes

The next morning Benson's alarm went off as usual but Benson didn't make any attempt to get out of bed even though, for some reason, the electronic blaring was like nails being driven into his eardrums. Finally after some time had passed he shifted under the covers and reached one hand out to hit the snooze button. Strangely he managed to hit the button on his first try and with enough force to actually dent the clock. With a tired yawn Benson sat up, sheets falling off him and revealing the dark bags under his eyes. Turning his attention to the clock he noticed it was now 7:15 and gave a groan.

"That was _not _a solid ten hours of sleep," he thought. How could he be this tired when he fell asleep before 10:00 last night? Realizing it was best not to dwell on it, since he was already behind in getting ready for work, he got up to take a cold shower to help him wake up.

Once he reached the bathroom and reached out to pull back the shower curtain he was greeted with the sight of his bandage. Remembering the events from last night Benson unwrapped it a little hesitant to see how it was doing. To his shock the bite mark was almost completely healed. Benson knew he had always been a fast healer but the speed at which it had healed seemed a bit unnatural. Then again he supposed it wasn't necessarily a bad thing and deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, decided to ignore it. Once out and slightly more awake, Benson made his way over to the sink to brush his teeth (and apply a fresh bandage). As he ran the toothbrush over his teeth and spat the leftover toothpaste into the sink, Benson noticed in the mirror that his canines were slightly sharper than normal. Raising his brow but deciding not to think too much about it, Benson applied a clean bandage and made his way to the kitchen for breakfast.

After popping a piece of bread in the toaster and fixing his coffee for a quick meal, Benson grabbed the newspaper from outside his door and flipped through it thinking that maybe he could find some word of what he had encountered last night. Unfortunately, nothing of the sort was reported. As his toast popped up, Benson tossed the paper aside and went to butter it but as he took a bite immediately scrunched his face in distaste. It tasted…off. Immediately thinking the loaf had just gone bad, Benson checked the expiration date only to find that it was still good for another week.

"Must be a misprint," Benson mused as he discarded the toast into the trash can and took a sip from his coffee only to nearly spit it back out too. Even the coffee tasted off. He loved coffee. There was no way it could go bad without him noticing. Reluctantly pouring the rest of the brew down the drain he decided to skip breakfast altogether. Glancing at the clock, which read 8:30, Benson headed out the door to go to work.

* * *

Once at the park, Benson grabbed his clipboard from his office and went outside to meet up with everyone else, who was already waiting on the steps, to get the morning meeting started. As he came around the house (having exited from the back door since it was the closest exit to his office) he could hear the others talk excitedly about something.

"No way bro, that's really tonight?" Muscle Man asked.

"Yeah," Skips answered. "It's a rare celestial event that happens about once every 700 years. Heck, even _I_ haven't seen it and I'm kind of curious myself."

"Seriously? But you're immortal," Rigby stated confused.

"I've only had my immortality for about 450 years," Skips shrugged.

"Aw man we totally have to see it then," Mordecai chipped in.

"What are you guys talking about?" Benson asked out of curiosity as he approached the lot.

"Oh, Benson. We were just speaking of tonight's rare blue moon," Pops responded. "Surely you've heard of it." Of course Benson _had_ heard of it. He remembered reading about it in the paper a few days ago and then vaguely again this morning as he was flipping through the paper.

"Yeah, I have. But that's not important right now. We've got a lot of work to do today. Don't forget Mr. Maellard will be stopping by any day now for that surprise evaluation so let's get started." Benson was about to read off the jobs for the day when Pops interrupted him.

"Oh my, Benson what happened to your arm?" He asked in concern referring to the bandage on Benson's arm. Caught off guard by the question, Benson glanced down at his arm before turning his attention back to his employees.

"It's nothing. Just a bit of a scratch, that's all," Benson assured.

"If it's nothing then why are you hiding it then?" Rigby asked.

"And why do you look more tired than usual?" Skips added with a raised brow noticing the dark bags under his eyes. "Didn't you get any sleep?"

"I had kind of a rough night," Benson admitted. "But I'm fine so let's just leave it at that." Skips and the others looked unconvinced but didn't argue with him.

"As I was saying, we have a lot to get done today. Skips, the gazebo on the north end of the park needs to be fixed up along with some of the paddleboats at the lake. When that's finished, the carts and park truck need to undergo the typical maintenance." Skips nodded and gave a grunt in understanding.

"Pops, the flower beds on the west side of the park need to be watered and weeded. A new rose bed also needs to be put in so you'll have to go to the greenhouse in town to get the rose bushes. And please be sure to pay with actual money this time. I don't want another call from the florist saying you tried to pay with a butterscotch ripple lollipop again." Pops gave a sheepish grin and chuckle (though he still didn't quite understand what the problem was; a butterscotch ripple could easily pay for what was needed).

"Muscle Man and High Fives, the park fields on the south side need to be mowed and fertilized. I also need you guys to repaint the benches and shed that were rebuilt yesterday along with hauling the logs of the uprooted trees from yesterday to the wood chipper to be shredded."

"No sweat," Muscle Man answered before smirking. "You know who else needs help putting things through the wood chipper?"

"Please don't say—"

"MY MOM!" Muscle Man exclaimed before exchanging high fives with High Five Ghost. Benson shook his head with an irritated groan before moving on.

"Thomas, you're on snack bar duty. The fryer and grease traps especially need to be cleaned as well as degumming under the tables."

"Got it," Thomas agreed.

"Mordecai and Rigby, you two need to pick up all the trash in the park and clean the park bathrooms _thoroughly_." The two troublemakers groaned upon hearing this.

"Don't even start with me," Benson warned. "You both are still on thin ice. So if you two want to keep your jobs, I SUGGEST YOU GET STARTED!" Benson shouted turning red from anger.

"Ok, ok," Mordecai conceded. "Come on dude," he motioned to Rigby before leaving to get started along with everyone else who left the porch steps to do their respective tasks. When everyone was out of sight, Benson turned to head back into the house barely registering the subtle throbbing of his bandaged arm. Entering his office, he sat down at his desk to get started on the day's paperwork. Ten minutes into the first stack, exhaustion began seeping into his body as his eyelids grew heavy.

"No, come on. Stay awake," Benson told himself figuring it was the lack of caffeine that was responsible. He shook his head to clear up the drowsiness and even resorted to pinching himself awake but try as he might, he couldn't fight off the wave of sleepiness. Eventually he lost the battle and placing his head on his desk, Benson fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

It was dark and empty in his dream, and strangely foggy. At first Benson wasn't sure where he was until he saw the faint silhouette of the park house a ways away. He found himself walking up the steps and slowly turning the doorknob but as he entered through the front door was not met with the foyer but instead found himself looking down what appeared to be the passage of a subterranean tunnel. Torches were dimly lit along the walls and painted with strange symbols and diagrams.

Not liking this one bit, he turned to leave but the door through which he had entered had vanished. Seeing as there was no other choice but to go the only other way, he cautiously made his way down the eerie tunnel. Looking at the walls of what appeared to be ancient looking drawings, he finally reached the end, which was a large concaved area decorated somewhat like a viewing arena with balcony-like stone structures protruding from the stone walls high above each connecting to a tunnel of their own. Benson was vaguely reminded of a primitive sports stadium; where he got the idea he wasn't quite sure. Craning his neck, Benson also noticed a giant hole in the ceiling that gave a clear look of a strangely bright starry night sky and smack in the middle of the sky was a large full moon glowing an unnatural but strangely hypnotic shade of blue.

Vacantly, he approached the center of the room, keeping his eyes focused on the moon until a scraping noise from the shadows startled him. Looking around wildly, he nearly jumped out of his skin when his eyes locked onto a shapeless mass with a set of glowing eyes that penetrated from the darkness. The mass slowly stepped into the light of the moon revealing a large wolf-like creature with gray fur and telltale scar, which Benson immediately recognized as the same creature that attacked him last night. Before he could say or do anything, the creature spoke.

"The time is approaching brother." As those words were said the ground around Benson began to erupt and surround him with streams of light that reshaped into a strange symbol of a mix between a crescent moon and a canine-like paw print that hovered above his head.

"Time?" Benson repeated confused looking at the creature. "Time for what?"

"…You're rebirth," it answered just as the symbol above Benson's head glowed and crashed down onto him.

* * *

Letting out a cry of shock and fear Benson awoke with a gasp and shot upright from his seat. Almost immediately, he felt a pair of gentle hands place themselves on his shoulder. Startled he turned his head to see a concerned Pops at his side.

"Benson my good man, are you alright? You were having quite the dream, or rather, the nightmare."

"A dream?" he asked almost unsure as he looked around.

"Indeed. Are you feeling unwell? You look pale."

"No, no. I'm ok," he muttered placing a hand to his arm that was throbbing dully for some odd reason. Pops noticed this of course but before he could address it, Benson turned his attention to the clock and saw that somehow an hour had passed making it about 10:30.

"Crap," Benson muttered. "I've been out for that long?"

"'Tis only an hour Benson. No need to alarmed," Pops assured.

"Yeah but there's still things I have to do."

"Then why don't you take care of them and leave the paperwork be for now?" Oddly enough, the lolliman made a convincing argument. Maybe taking a walk would help clear his head _and_ he could take care of the other things that needed to be done. And honestly, he didn't think he could concentrate on paperwork with that nightmare still fresh in his mind.

"Yeah, maybe you're right Pops," Benson agreed.

"Good show," Pops replied with a smile. "I'll leave you to it then," he stated heading for the door. Once Pops was gone, Benson glanced at his arm where the aching was slowly beginning to die down. Pushing it to the back of his mind, Benson got up from his chair leaving the paperwork on his desk as well as his cell phone, which began to vibrate shortly after he had exited the room.

* * *

As Benson passed by the kitchen to go outside, his stomach growled in a protest of going so long without food.

"Well, I did skip breakfast," he mused. "I guess it wouldn't kill me if I grabbed a quick bite to eat." Opening the fridge he shifted through the contents to see what looked good to him until he spotted packages of fresh deli meats. A hoagie sandwich loaded with meat seemed perfect. Grabbing every package of deli meat he closed the fridge door with his foot, since his hands were full, and set the ingredients on the table before grabbing a few slices of bread and some vegetables to make his hoagie. But as he took an eager bite he slowly stopped chewing before spitting his out food into his napkin. He couldn't believe it, the food in his mouth _still_ tasted strangely to him!

"What the heck?" Benson muttered exasperated. The bread and vegetables seemed like a foreign taste and knew there was no way it couldbe a coincidence that he has been eating things that have gone bad. The only things that didn't taste off were the deli meats and the chances of it going bad were much higher than anything else in the fridge (except the bread but that is usually always eaten before it gets a chance to go bad). Unsure of what to do, Benson just contemplated the recurring problem.

"I hope I'm not getting sick," he thought grimly. Debating whether or not he should just throw it out until his stomach growled again. He knew that, despite what his mouth was telling him, he couldn't deny his stomach food any longer. Sucking it up, he loaded the sandwich with even more meat hoping to drown out the strange taste of everything else.

"Extra bologna, extra ham, extra salami, extra turkey, extra—" At that moment Muscle Man walked in with High Five Ghost floating in behind him.

"Geeze Benson," Muscle Man started as he eyed Benson's food. "You want some bread and veggies for that meat pile of yours?" Benson looked back at his food and saw that it was indeed more meat than sandwich now. Choosing to ignore the comment, Benson asked a question of his own.

"Shouldn't you guys be working?" Benson asked annoyed as he placed the top piece of bread back on his newly loaded meat-filled sandwich and took a bite.

"Just grabbing a soda bro," Muscle Man answered as he walked over to the fridge. "It's a scorcher out there."

"Yeah," High Fives agreed in his typical high-pitched, quivery voice before suddenly tilting his head (or whatever is part of his head) in confusion. "Wait, is that liverwurst?" Benson stopped chewing in confusion as High Fives pointed out the dangling piece of liverwurst from the hoagie.

"Dude, I thought you hated that stuff," Muscle Man asked after taking a swig of his soda. Truthfully, Benson _did_ hate liverwurst and normally would be able to pick out the taste of it even if he was blindfolded. But for some reason, he didn't have any problem eating it. In fact, his body was actually starting to crave it along with the other meats loaded in the sandwich.

"I…guess I got over it," Benson shrugged taking another bite.

"When?" High Fives asked.

"Just…now?" Benson replied as more of a question than a sure answer.

"Ok…" Muscle Man replied with a raised brow before giving a sly smirk. "You know who else likes the taste of liverwurst on their meat pile?" Immediately knowing what was coming and not in the mood to hear the punch line, Benson gave him a sharp warning glare.

"Don't even—"

"MY MOM!" Muscle Man exclaimed with a loud series of laughs as he and High Fives once again exchanged high fives. Benson on the other hand just let out an irritated groan at the bad joke.

"Anyways," Muscle Man spoke up after his guffaws died down. "Fives and I are going to get back to work," he stated as they headed for the door. "Man, I'm on fire today," he heard Muscle Man brag as they left.

"Maybe not yet," a voice at the back of Benson's head spoke up surprising him. Where did _that _thought come from? Muscle Man was always a bit annoying with his jokes but that was a little too harsh, even for Benson. Subconsciously, he rubbed his injured arm that was once more dully throbbing before he finished his sandwich in a now unsettling silence.

* * *

As Benson made his rounds through the park, he went over the papers on his clipboard to make sure everything was in order.

"Alright, everything in the shed inventory is accounted for. The sprinklers and park electrical systems are running fine. The park fountains are clean and the hedges are trimmed. All that's left is…" Benson's thoughts trailed off as he caught the scent of something that put him on edge. Immediately, Benson thought of smoke but knew that couldn't be it since nothing in the area was burning, not even a grill. It wasn't a foul smell exactly so it couldn't be a skunk. No, it was more of a domestic kind of smell, one that Benson knew and didn't like. Before he could figure it out, a man walking his dog came from around the corner.

"Dog," Benson realized with dread. He had never really liked dogs; too many bad experiences (partly due to the fact that nearly every dog looked and treated him like some sort of walking personal fire hydrant). The only dog he ever really tolerated was his sister's white schnauzer that he had watched for her that one week she was out of town (though he foolishly entrusted Mordecai and Rigby with the task of caring for it for a short time but that's another story entirely).

As the man and his dog approached, Benson stepped to the side to put a fair amount of distance between them as they passed by. Benson visibly relaxed once they were a ways away but as he started walking away, he heard the man shout out as his dog's leash managed to slip out of his grip and the hound started to run over to the tense gumball machine. Turning just in time to see the dog leap on him, he was knocked flat on his back, clipboard flying out of his hands, as memories of last night flooded his mind. Fighting the urge to freak out, he tried pushing the overly friendly pooch off him until the dog's owner pried the canine off Benson.

"Chester no! Bad dog," he scolded before giving Benson his attention. "I am so sorry sir. That's usually not like him."

"It's fine," Benson waved off getting back to his feet and brushing himself off. He looked around to see where his clipboard had gone. He noticed it on the ground some feet away and being sniffed by the same mischievous canine. On instinct he growled protectively but instead it came out far more deeply menacing and animal-like. Upon hearing the threatening growl, the dog whimpered and backed off with its tail between its legs before retreating to hide behind his master. It took a second for Benson to realize what he was doing, nearly slapping a hand over his mouth, shocked by his own behavior. The man as well was rather unnerved by Benson's actions pulled his dog away and gave him a strange look before bidding a quick good-bye and walking away.

"Gumball freak," he heard the man mutter as they were some ways away. Offended, but hurt by the comment nonetheless, Benson muttered a few choice words of his own as he retrieved his clipboard.

"Dog-walking son of a—" Benson's rant was cut off as he winced and clutched his arm that was once more throbbing, this time slightly stronger than before. Rubbing his arm in an effort to soothe the discomfort, Benson walked away to continue his manager duties unaware of a rather perplexed Thomas who had witnessed the whole thing.

* * *

After checking on everyone else's progress with their work, Benson made his way over to where Mordecai and Rigby were supposedly picking up trash. The ache in his arm still lingered but any trace of pain had long since ebbed away. Benson contemplated checking the injury to make sure it somehow wasn't getting worse when suddenly a familiar voice shouting "Ninja Warriors 4" was heard followed by a can that flew through the bushes to his left and narrowly missing his head. Growling, Benson peeked through the bushes where sure enough Mordecai and Rigby were goofing off. Each troublemaker was staring the other down in a mock Western showdown and each holding a trash bag that, by the looks of it, had far less trash inside them than what was littered on the ground.

"Dude, you missed by a long shot," Mordecai taunted. "And how can you think Ninja Warriors 4 is a better movie than Zombie Dinner Party 2: Just Desserts?"

"It's a classic. _And_ it's remastered with twice the action," Rigby defended. "Besides, Just Desserts is just some lame sequel with less zombies and more sappy romance stuff."

"Whatever dude," Mordecai said with an eye roll. "You just don't know quality entertainment."

"What are you two idiots doing?" Benson asked hotly as he approached the two.

"Benson," Mordecai said with a slightly panicked look on his face. "Look man, before you say anything we _were_ working," he tried to explain as Rigby nodded his head.

"Oh you were, were you?" Benson ground out through clenched teeth as he felt his face turn red. "THEN WHY WERE YOU CHUCKING THE GARBAGE AT EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF PICKING IT UP?"

"Well, we wanted to make a game out of it," Rigby stated.

"Yeah, we thought that by making it more fun, we'd get it done faster," Mordecai explained.

"I don't care," Benson snapped. "I want it done _right_ and I want it done _now_ OR ELSE YOU'RE FIRED!" At those words Benson's injured arm throbbed once more causing Benson to wince and grab his bandaged arm. This of course caught Mordecai and Rigby's attention.

"Dude, Benson. Are you ok?" Mordecai asked.

"I'm fine," Benson muttered after the throbbing slowly began to subside. Eventually, he turned his attention back to Mordecai and Rigby. "This is your last warning. Get your jobs done by the end of the day or you'll be sorry." At that moment, Benson's eyes seemed to (literally) flash dangerously causing Mordecai and Rigby to give a low gasp.

"What?" Benson asked irritably. For a minute, Mordecai and Rigby were silent in shock, trying to figure out what they had seen before snapping out of it.

"Uh, nothing Benson," Mordecai responded. "We promise we'll get it done." Giving them one last stern look, Benson finally walked away to finish the last of his rounds. Once he was out of earshot, Rigby turned to Mordecai.

"Dude, did you see what happened with his eyes?"

"Yeah I did," Mordecai responded with concern. "Something's up with Benson and whatever it is, it definitely doesn't look good. We've got to talk to Skips."

* * *

After hastily taking care of the trash pickup, Mordecai and Rigby hustled to Skips' garage to speak with the wise yeti about what they had seen take place with Benson. Skips was currently working on one of the golf carts' mechanical innards when he heard the duo call out his name.

"Skips, Skips!"

"What did you guys do this time?" he asked nonchalantly, wiping his greasy hands on a nearby towel.

"Nothing," Rigby stated obviously offended as he hopped into the seat of the golf cart that Skips was currently working on. "Why does everyone always think that whenever something strange happens, it's automatically _our_ fault?" Skips merely gave them an "are you serious" look.

"Look, it's not us this time," Mordecai interrupted. "It's Benson. Something weird is going on with him." Before Skips could ask what they meant, another voice spoke up first.

"Oh dear, you think so as well?" The three turned to see Pops along with Muscle Man, High Five Ghost, and Thomas approach.

"Pops, what exactly do you guys mean?" Mordecai asked.

"Well, as you recall from this morning, I was concerned with the injury on Benson's arm and after finishing my day's tasks, went to check on him in his office. However, once I arrived there Benson was sound asleep at his desk."

"Wait," Rigby interrupted sitting up straight from leaning back in his seat. "Benson fell asleep on the job. HA! We've totally got to bust his chops about it—OW!" This comment ultimately cost Rigby a hard slug to the arm courtesy of Mordecai before Pops continued.

"Honestly, that wasn't quite what had me concerned. 'Twas how he was grasping his arm as though it was causing him pain that truly concerned me after he awoke from a terrible nightmare."

"That _is _kind of odd," Skips admitted.

"Well, that's not as weird as what we saw," High Fives spoke up.

"Yeah," Muscle Man agreed. "When Fives and I were taking a quick soda break in the kitchen, we saw Benson practically pigging out on every type of meat in the fridge, including liverwurst." The other workers just stared at Muscle Man not sure where the dire concern in the report was.

"Oh no?" Mordecai questioned.

"Duh, Benson hates liverwurst," Muscle Man exclaimed as if it were obvious.

"Why does it not surprise me you know something like that?" Rigby questioned.

"Shut up!"

"You know, now that I think about it, I saw something weird going on with Benson too," Thomas spoke up getting everyone's attention.

"Whatever do you mean Thomas?" Pops asked.

"It was after I had finished cleaning the fryers and stuff at the snack bar," Thomas started. "I was heading to the bathroom to wash off when I saw Benson and this guy walking his dog. I couldn't hear what they were saying but what I did catch was Benson literally growling at the guy's dog in such a strangely animalistic way that it ran away with its tail between its legs."

"That actually sounds like typical Benson to me," Rigby cracked earning another hard punch to the arm from Mordecai.

"What about you guys?" Skips asked looking to Mordecai and Rigby. "What did you see?"

"Well, when Benson was laying into us for not doing our work as usual, his eyes changed," Mordecai replied.

"Changed how?" Skips pressed.

"I don't know they just did," Rigby explained. "One second it was just his normal eyes but then they just suddenly changed before going back to normal."

"And just like what Pops said, he was holding his arm like it was bothering him," Mordecai added. Skips placed a hand to his chin in thought.

"What do you make of all of this Skips?" Pops inquired.

"Hmm," Skips sounded. "This all _does_ sound vaguely familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it. Either way, I agree that something strange is definitely going on with him. And I bet that so called 'scratch' on his arm is most likely the cause of it."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Muscle Man asked. "Let's go find Benson." The rest agreed and started heading towards the house. Mordecai and Rigby went to follow but as Rigby turned to hop out of the golf cart, his tail accidentally hit the parking brake and the cart slowly started to roll backwards out of the garage. Hearing the creaking metal fixer-upper rumble away, everyone looked over their shoulders to see the out of control cart and barely had enough time to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. Exchanging quick looks, the park gang chased after the runaway cart, hoping they could stop it before it could get damaged, or worse, possibly hurt someone. But as it gained momentum from rolling down a small hill, to everyone's horror, they noticed it was barreling straight for an unsuspecting Benson who was walking by and going over the papers on his clipboard.

"Benson look out!" Mordecai cried out catching his boss's attention. Looking up from his clipboard, he saw the speeding metal missile and froze in his tracks like a deer in headlights. But as the cart got closer some strange instinct within Benson took over causing his eyes to shift into a beast-like state (though Benson didn't know this and the others were too far away to actually see the eye shift). Reacting with barely enough time, Benson leapt high into the air with a back flip, narrowly avoiding getting hit as the cart crashed into a tree a ways behind him. The other park employees who witnessed this were absolutely speechless by what they had seen as Benson landed unscathed in a crouched position. Blinking several times, Benson's eyes went back to normal as he stared at the now busted cart trying to process what had just happened. But when he heard the others approaching and his eyes fell on Mordecai and Rigby, any sense of shock was immediately replaced with anger.

"WERE YOU TWO IDIOTS RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT?" He yelled getting to his feet and pointing to the damaged cart.

"Dude Benson, that was…How did you do that?" Rigby asked in awe. Benson was taken aback not really knowing the answer himself.

"I…Don't change the subject!"

"Dude Benson, something's up with you," Mordecai said.

"Yeah, you just cleared ten feet of air doing a back flip without even trying bro," Muscle Man said.

"You haven't exactly been yourself lately man," Thomas also added.

"I-I don't know what you're all talking about," Benson replied feigning ignorance.

"Benson, cart incident aside you must understand we're concerned about you," Pops said gently. "If anything is going on, you must know you can tell us."

"Look, I appreciate the concern but I don't need to explain myself to anyone," Benson replied getting frustrated. The wound on his arm started to throb once more causing Benson to subconsciously grasp it.

"Actually I think you _do_ need to do some explaining, starting with that arm of yours," Skips spoke sternly casting a glance down to the park manager's arm. Starting to get fed up with everyone's stubbornness to not to let the situation go, his arm began to throb much stronger than before.

"I'm fine," Benson unconvincingly replied. Unfortunately, the throbbing of his arm began to intensify and he was unable to stifle a grunt of discomfort, nor hide a grimace of pain as he grasped his arm tighter.

"You don't look fine man," Rigby said. "Come on, we're only trying to—"

"I SAID I'M FINE!" Benson shouted giving them all a glare. However, instead of hearing hasty and reluctant agreements to drop it, he saw the others to gasp in shock and…was that a hint of fear as well?

"Benson," Pops started stunned. "Your eyes!"

"My eyes?" Benson said confused. "What about them?" Skips went over to the downed cart and swiveled the side mirror around so it was facing Benson. What Benson saw made his heart skip a beat and emit a gasp of his own: his eyes were now that of some kind of wild animal's!

"W-What?" Benson could only utter taking a few steps back before his arm reacted with a throb so strong it caused Benson to cry out in pain. The others immediately rushed to his side as he was brought to his knees and the pain began shooting not only through his arm but also through his whole body.

"Benson? Benson!" Mordecai exclaimed.

"Dude, what's wrong with him?" Rigby asked worriedly as Benson's whole body trembled in agony.

"My…head…" Benson croaked out his hands moved up to clutch his dome. "Feels like…it's splitting!" Letting out a final loud cry of pain, two magenta-colored, canine-like ears sprouted from the top of his head. As the pain started to fade, Benson felt his consciousness leave him as well before he fell over on his side and blacked out. The other park workers could only stare at the new appendages in bewilderment.

"Uh, what just happened?" Thomas asked. Skips was the first one to move as he approached his boss and checked him over.

"It doesn't matter. Right now we've got to get him back to the house," Skips ordered taking one of Benson's arms and helping him up. Mordecai took the other arm and they hustled back home.

* * *

Once inside the park home, Benson slowly came to his senses as his eyes fluttered open. Sitting up from the couch he was placed on with a groan, the others gathered around him.

"Benson, are you…ok?" Mordecai asked.

"Ugh, I think so," he answered rubbing his temples to ease the lingering headache. "What happened? How'd I get here?"

"We carried out here after you passed out," Skips answered.

"Passed out?" Benson repeated confused.

"You don't remember?" Pops asked concerned.

"Barely," the gumball machine answered. "I remember going over some things on my clipboard then the next thing I see is the-" Benson stopped remembering what had happened with the cart. "The cart!"

"Take it easy Benson, it can be fixed easily," Skips assured. "But that's not important right now. You were saying?" Benson gave a small sigh before continuing.

"We were all talking and then…" Benson's eyes widened as his memory slowly came back to him. Seeing how his eyes had changed, the sudden and crippling pain in his arm and eventually his head, he remembered it all clearly now.

"You remember," Skips simply stated seeing the change in his boss's expression. Benson could only numbly nod before looking to everyone else pleadingly, almost expecting it to be one of Muscle Man's sick jokes.

"Am I…I mean, are my eyes still…"

"Well, that's actually a bit of good news," Mordecai spoke up. "They managed to change back to normal. But uh…" The blue jay rubbed the back of his neck unsure of how to tell Benson the rest of it. Pops, deciding to pick up the slack, pulled out a polished lollipop fashioned into a mirror and held it out for Benson to see. At first, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be looking at, until his eyes came to rest on his new, twitching furry ears.

"Oh no. No way. Are you kidding me!?" Benson could only exclaim in utter disbelief as he brought his hands to his new ears, checking to see if they were real by giving them a firm tug. With the yelp of pain he let out as a result, it was clear that unfortunately they were. "Why…How did this even happen?"

"Actually, that's what we would like to know," Skips said crossing his arms. "Start from the beginning, from when you got that 'scratch' on your arm." Looking from one employee to the next, he let out a slow sigh before reluctantly complying. He started by explaining what happened after he had gone home, to the attack in the alley by the canine-like creature from last night, to the dream he had in his office along with all the subtle little changes he had noticed all that day. By the time he had finished Skips and the others had a mixture of confused and concerned expressions on their faces.

"I think we need to take a look at that bite mark," Skips said. Hesitantly, Benson slowly began to unwrap the bandage until it finally fell off. But upon seeing the condition of his arm, everyone gasped. On Benson's arm was the same mark that Benson recognized from his dream and it was starting to take shape.

"Dude, what is that?" Muscle Man asked.

"It wasn't like that this morning," Benson responded with worry. Skips examined the mark more closely before validating what he had begun to suspect.

"I'm afraid this confirms it then," the immortal yeti declared. "Benson, you've been bitten by a werewolf."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Phew! Now this was a long chapter, which needless to say was why it took me much longer to post. I had to go back several times mainly because I knew what I wanted to say but had a hard time making it all flow and got writer's cramp (a less severe case of writer's block) a number of times I was trying to figure out how I wanted certain things to proceed. But I have to say I'm rather satisfied with it now. The dog thing was more or less kind of a stretch. I've always seen Benson as more of a cat person than a dog person but it was hinted in the show that Benson once cared for a dog, specifically a white schnauzer (once as a flashback in the episode Blind Trust and once more briefly by Rigby in the episode Out of Commission). As for the "shocking" reveal at the end of the chapter, I'm guessing that most of you already knew what was coming (I didn't really make the best attempt at hiding it especially given the name of the story). Regardless, let me know what you liked and so on. And if anyone is curious as to what the mark on Benson's arm is supposed to actually look like I may post some story pictures of my DeviantART account (search by my user name, which is the same as it is here). As always please read, review and enjoy and see you all next chapter!**


	4. Bad to Good to Worse

Chapter 4: Bad to Good to Worse

"Are you serious Skips?" Mordecai asked stunned. "Benson's really been bitten a werewolf!" Benson was silent as he processed the new information.

"I'm afraid so," Skips answered grimly. "But not by any typical werewolf. Judging from that mark on his arm, I'd say he was bitten by a member of the Tisquantum Ty-Ohni."

"Uh, gesundheit," Rigby said with a raised brow.

"It's Native American Rigby," Skips explained unamused. "Loosely translated, it means 'Rage Wolf.'"

"Rage Wolf?" Pops repeated cocking his head to the side.

"Honestly, I could care less about _what_ bit me. What I want to know is _how_ can we fix this?" Benson asked. "I don't want to walk around in public with these things," he said motioning to his ears, which twitched slightly. Mordecai and Rigby tried to stifle a snicker but unfortunately heard them regardless thanks to Benson's improved hearing. "It's NOT funny you two!" Benson scolded heating up in irritation and a twinge of embarrassment.

"Chill dude. We're sorry," Mordecai apologized raising his hands defensively.

"Yeah man," Rigby added. "Besides it's just a pair of ears, its not like you grew a second head. Just slap on a hat and nobody will know." Benson's frustration began to build as he let out an annoyed growl at his employee's childish and rather half-baked problem-solving skills. As a result of this, his eyes shifted into that of a beast's, or rather, a wolf's again.

"Unless you do that," Mordecai said indicating his boss's eyes.

"YOU THINK I CAN HELP ANY OF THIS?" Benson shouted ears going back in aggravation as his face turned red and he got to his feet. However it wasn't long before he doubled over in pain with the mark on Benson's arm beginning to react as well by glowing. As the others anxiously watched, Benson fought to repress the oncoming change but to no avail as a gray-colored tail emerged from his backside. By the time the mark's reaction slowly began to cease, Benson was rather drained by the short but taxing metamorphosis. He would have completely slumped to the floor had it not been for Pops and Muscle Man who quickly managed to rush forward and support his weight. Looking over his shoulder Benson saw the new appendage and let out a small gasp.

"That's new," Muscle Man commented as he also looked at Benson's new tail, which swayed slightly. Benson (who's eyes went back to normal after the transformation) was helped back down on the couch before looking to Skips.

"Please tell me you know how to fix this," Benson said almost pleading.

"Unfortunately I don't know that much about Rage Wolves," the yeti answered slightly abashed.

"What? But you _always_ know what to do," Rigby stated.

"I'm immortal, not all knowing," Skips said defensively. "There's only so much I can do." The others were immediately disheartened before Skips spoke up again. "Relax. While _I_ may not know much about the subject, I _do _know someone who does."

"Wait. So, you're saying you know a guy?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah," Skips nodded.

"Wow, usually Muscle Man is usually the one who tends to know a guy," Rigby said.

"Whatever," Muscle Man huffed crossing his arms. "You can't always rely on what I may or may not bring to the table."

"Anyway, his name is Vick Simmons. He's an expert on all kinds of strange creatures but he specializes on the Tisquantum Ty-Ohni. I met him a couple of years back on one of his cross-country tours. If there's anybody in the world who knows the most about the Rage Wolf and how to change you back, it'd be him." Benson sighed in relief at the sign of good news.

"Do you think you can get a hold of him?"

"Probably. His number's stashed somewhere back at my place but it might take a bit of time to find."

"Do what you have to do," Benson said. "The sooner, the better."

"Alright. But there is one more thing," Skips said that gained everyone's attention. "While I may not know much about the Rage Wolf, I do know one thing: they're called _Rage_ Wolves for a reason."

"Huh?" the others muttered confused.

"Think back Benson, was there ever a time you weren't angry, irritated or otherwise that the mark didn't react to?" Benson thought for a minute and realized Skips was right. There really wasn't a time that the mark reacted when it wasn't linked to any form of vexation (save for the strange dream but for all Benson knew, fear or stress could have triggered it). "My guess is that any kind of anger or duress will speed up the transformation process. Meaning, until we find some kind of cure, you've got to stay calm."

"Alright I'll try," Benson said with a nod before a thought occurred to him. "But what about today's work. We still have to get ready for the evaluation."

"Then we'll just have to split up to take care of everything at once," Skips asserted. "Muscle Man, High Fives, and Thomas can take care of what little work is remaining; including hauling the crashed cart back to the garage."

"No problem bro," Muscle Man assured as High Fives nodded. Thomas however was a little unsure before he raised his hand.

"Question: Would this technically be considered our overtime?" The intern goat asked.

"THOMAS!" The others scolded with harsh glares.

"I'm just asking," he responded raising his hands in defense before he and the other two employees left to finish their work. Skips shook his head before continuing.

"I'll head back to my place and look for Vick's number. Mordecai and Rigby, you two come with me to help out."

"Alright," Mordecai responded.

"Pops, you're in charge of keeping an eye on Benson and making sure he stays calm," Skips finished speaking to the naïve yet responsible lolliman.

"Leave it to me my good man," Pops assured.

"Wait," Rigby interrupted. "Why does Pops get the easy job of babysitting Benson?"

"Excuse me," Benson spoke up giving them a cold glare as an ear twitched in annoyance obviously offended by the term of "babysitting."

"Sorry guys but if you were given the job of anything else other than helping me out, the remaining work wouldn't get done and Benson would be in full wolf mode before the sun goes down. No offence but you're not exactly the most calming people to be around. Especially if the person who needs to be calm is Benson," Skips explained.

"He's got a point dude," Mordecai admitted looking to Rigby. "Come on," he motioned. The childish raccoon merely crossed his arms and huffed a "fine" before following Mordecai and Skips out the door. Now alone, Pops and Benson exchanged quick looks before Pops spoke first.

"So Benson, what do you normally like to do to relax?" The slightly hairier gumball machine just sighed and got to his feet.

"You know Pops, I think I'm going to go and finish today's paper work," he said before starting to head to his office. However, Pops stopped him by blocking the doorway.

"Benson please. If there's even the slightest chance that it could aggravate your, erm, condition, I don't want to risk it," Pops said gently.

"'Condition?' What are you, some kind of hopeless case?" the same strangely dark inner voice from before spoke up. Unsettled by the once more out-of-nowhere comment, he put the voice out of his head before turning back to Pops who was awaiting a response.

"It'll be fine Pops," Benson insisted. "Besides, if I don't get it done, Mr. Maellard will—"

"Papa will understand if we just tell him you aren't feeling well," Pops interjected.

"Somehow, I doubt that," Benson started harshly more to himself than anything as he crossed his arms. However, upon seeing the look of utter apprehensiveness (complete with big wet eyes and light whimpering) Benson immediately softened, his ears lying back against his head. A let out a sigh of defeat; he _hated _it when Pops played dirty like that. "Fine, I'll put it off until tomorrow." Immediately the lolliman perked up.

"Oh good show," he cheered before leading Benson back over to the couch. "Why don't you just watch the Telly while I whip up some soothing chamomile tea." Benson of course would have preferred a cup of coffee to tea any day but didn't argue with the lolliman. As Pops went into the kitchen to prepare a cup, Benson let out another sigh before flipping on the TV hoping to drown out his concerns over some mind-numbing television.

* * *

An hour later (around 1:15 pm), Benson was seated at the kitchen table sipping from another poured cup of tea. Nothing particularly good had been on TV, just the typical news channels, cheesy Spanish dramas, and lowbrow cartoons. Benson had contemplated watching the rented movies from last night but when his gaze fell upon the monster movie cover, he immediately changed his mind. So now he sat at the table drumming his fingers on the wooden surface and resting his chin in his other hand that was propped up on his elbow. He watched Pops pour himself another cup before the elder gentleman looked to Benson's cup.

"Benson, you've barely touched your tea," he said with a hint of worry.

"It's my third cup Pops. And no offence but I think if I have anymore, I'll be sick," Benson replied. "My uh, tastes have kind of changed you know."

"It's quite alright," Pops nodded in understanding. "Perhaps some finger sandwiches would be better suited to your new palate," he suggested getting up from his seat and heading to the fridge to prepare them.

"Some tea party," Benson muttered under his breath quietly enough for Pops not to hear. He knew the lolliman meant well but he just couldn't help keep the building irritation out of his system. Benson took several deep breaths in an effort to calm himself. "I hope the others find a solution to this mess and fast," he said this time loud enough for Pops to hear.

"I'm sure they will," Pops comforted. Before Benson could reply, his ears perked up from a sound of a car engine that came from outside. Pops, naturally unable to hear the things Benson now could, watched curiously as his friend/boss's head turned to the direction of the front door in the other room. Before Pops could ask what the matter was a knock was heard at the door. Exchanging quick looks of puzzlement, Pops went to answer it. At the front door was Audrey in her usual pink sweater and skirt.

"Ms. Audrey? What a surprise," Pops greeted stunned. Benson, who was listening in from the kitchen paled upon learning who was at the door.

"Hello, uh, Pops right?" Audrey asked with a polite smile.

"Indeed. Tell me, what brings you here?" the lolliman asked curiously as he let the young woman in.

"Well, I was hoping to see Benson. We had planned to have a date later tonight but my work accidentally scheduled me on someone else's shift so I managed to get the day off. I figured maybe I would surprise him with a lunch date instead. I guess he didn't tell you. Is he around?" Benson slapped a hand to his forehead. Their date! How could he be so stupid to forget their date? Pops on the other hand contemplated the given predicament until he got a clever idea.

"Oh of course. I'll go fetch him. In the meantime, please make yourself at home and I'll be back in a jiffy," Pops said with a small smile as he motioned to the living room. Audrey politely sat on the couch to wait as Pops went through the foyer that joined with the back hallway that also led to the kitchen.

"You didn't turn her away?" Benson asked half expecting him to.

"Would you have preferred if I had?" Pops asked with a sly grin. Caught slightly off guard Benson fumbled for an answer.

"Well…no," he admitted before letting out and aggravated sigh and scratched his head. "I can't believe I forgot our date—I mean get-together. But I can't just walk out there looking like this," Benson said motioning to his tail and ears, which were slightly lowered in anxiety. "What do I do?"

"Benson," Pops said placing his hands on the gumball machine's shoulders with a smile. "I believe you and Ms. Audrey should have your date here."

"What?" Benson questioned surprised at the suggestion.

"Hear me out my good man," Pops started. "You and Ms. Audrey were originally planning for a supper-time rendezvous yes? Complete with soft candlelight, gentle music and time alone with the lovely lady, hmm?" Pops nudged gently as Benson felt a faint blush creep onto his cheeks at the scenario Pops was spelling out.

"I-It wouldn't be _that_ kind of dinner."

"Regardless, a lunch date would provide as much a calm and soothing atmosphere. And who better to keep your emotions in check than Ms. Audrey?" Pops explained.

"I guess you have a point," Benson muttered. "But how am I supposed to explain the fact that I now have ears and a tail?"

"I have a solution to that as well." Pops replied before rushing out of the kitchen for a brief moment before returning with some clothes in his hands.

"How will these help?" Benson asked with a raised brow.

"To hide your, ahem, new appendages. Just tie the jacket around your waist to tuck the tail away and the cap will conceal your ears," Pops answered unfolding the clothes revealing a black Fist Pump hoodie with a matching black beanie and a blue wristband that could conceal the partial mark on his arm. Benson looked at the garments in apprehension.

"Where did you get these?"

"From Mordecai and Rigby's pile in the laundry room."

"Pops, I can't wear those!"

"Why not? They're clean."

"That's not the point Pops," Benson said shaking his head. "One, I'm not going to wear clothes from another person's closet; especially not Mordecai and Rigby's," Benson explained with a grimace. "Two, this will never work. Audrey will immediately suspect something."

"Benson, I know it's a long shot but if you had the choice of sitting here alone drinking more tea or at least making an attempt to mingle with Ms. Audrey, who by the way I'm sure is growing tired of waiting, which option would you rather pick?" Pops elucidated. Benson opened his mouth to protest but closed it again. Once again the naïve lolliman had made a strong argument and as much as he hated to admit it, he really _did_ want to spend time with Audrey, werewolf bite be damned. Benson peeked through the doorway into the living room where Audrey was still patiently seated before looking back to Pops.

"Alright," Benson finally agreed. Pops smiled and gave the clothes to Benson, which he quickly donned before entering the living room.

"Hey Audrey. Sorry for the wait," Benson apologized nervously.

"Oh, that's alright," Audrey assured before noticing Benson's attire. "Um, that's a rather interesting outfit you have on Benson."

"Its…uh, Casual Friday attire," Benson said thinking quickly.

"Oh," Audrey uttered.

"Too weird?" Benson questioned rubbing the back of his head fearing the answer.

"Not exactly, just different," Audrey responded. "But different is nice every now and again." Benson gave a small smile relieved she didn't further question the oddity of his wardrobe as he took a seat on the couch next to Audrey. As he did so he could smell the faint scent of lavender and vanilla. Benson could only assume that the transformation greatly increased his sense of smell as well as his hearing.

"So, Pops told me about the double-booking at your work," he said trying to get his mind off of the issue.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about just dropping by out of the blue like this instead of waiting until tonight. I tried calling to tell you but you never picked up." Benson mentally slapped himself for not carrying his phone with him.

"Sorry, I must've left if on my desk. Things have been kind of hectic around here today," he said. "In more ways than one," he also mentally added.

"If this is a bad time, we can reschedule."

"No!" Benson hastily answered taking Audrey by surprise. "I mean…I've just really been looking forward to seeing you and…I'm really glad you're here," Benson admitted. Audrey gave a soft smile as they just stared at each other until a small chuckle came from the kitchen doorway where Pops was loitering. Benson turned his head to give a firm look to the spying lolliman.

"Oh, forgive my intrusion. I'll just be in my room if you two lovebirds need anything," he apologized slipping past them and heading up the stairs. Letting out a sigh at the interruption, Benson turned his attention back to Audrey.

"Listen, I know it's not quite anything extravagant but how about we just sit and chat over a cup of coffee and maybe order a pizza."

"I'd like that," Audrey responded. As they got up and headed towards the kitchen they were completely unaware of the wolf-like shadows that watched them intensely through the window before one figure severed the phone lines to the house.

* * *

In Skips' home, Skips, Mordecai and Rigby were not quite having the amount of luck they were anticipating in locating Vick's number as the trio searched through the piles of papers and other important documents in Skips' attic where all the mementos of his past adventures were kept.

"Are you sure it's up here Skips?" Mordecai asked looking over his shoulder to where said yeti was looking through a small filing cabinet.

"Positive," he answered. "Though I admit this place could use some a bit of spring cleaning."

"Well don't expect our help with that," Rigby said lounging on a pile of old newspapers with his hands behind his head in a relaxed posture.

"You know Rigby, finding that number would go a lot faster if you actually _tried_ to help out," Mordecai lectured.

"Why? You guys got this," Rigby said nonchalantly as he got up and approached the blue jay. "Besides, what's the point of looking for something when it's just going to get lost again. That's why I never clean."

"No, it's 'cause you're lazy," Mordecai replied with a frown. "And it's not about cleaning. We're trying to help Benson remember. Do you want him to stay stuck as a Rage Wolf or whatever?"

"Of course not," Rigby said almost offended but stopped as if in thought. "But would much change if he was?" Rigby asked tilting his head in curiosity.

"Dude not cool," Mordecai reprimanded with a shove, which sent the smaller raccoon stumbling back and knocking over one of the trophy pedestals where an Indian headdress was placed.

"Hey, careful with that," Skips rebuked as he skipped over to the fallen headwear and picked it up. As he did so, a slip of paper came fluttering out of the lining of the cap.

"Dude, is that what I think it is?" Mordecai asked as he picked it up and unfolded it. Sure enough, it was Vick's number with his name and contact info scrawled onto it.

"What was it doing in there?" Rigby asked getting to his feet and joining the other two.

"Well, the last time I saw Vick was at a Native American culture festival in Oklahoma, where I got this headdress. I guess I must have tucked the slip in there and then forgot about it," Skips answered as he placed the headdress back on the now upright pedestal.

"Well we have it now so let's call him," Mordecai said as the three headed back to the first floor of Skips' home. Skips made his way over to the landline on his dresser and dialed the number. It wasn't long until after a few rings, someone picked up.

"Hello?" a slightly older voice on the other line answered.

"Hey Vick, it's Skips."

"Skips, my old friend. It's been a while; how've you been?"

"Not too bad," Skips replied with a shrug before getting back to the matter at hand. "Listen Vick, as much as I'd like to chat and catch up with you, I'm afraid I'm actually calling for a reason."

"Oh, I see. Well what seems to be the problem?"

"I think a friend of mine was bitten by a Rage Wolf."

"What?!" Vick exclaimed on the other line. "Skips, are you sure of this?"

"There's no doubt," Skips answered grimly. "The mark of the Tisquantum Ty-Ohni is already starting to show."

"Oh dear, this is serious. Do you know how long ago your friend was bitten?"

"He said sometime around 9:00 last night."

"I see. Has he started showing any physical changes?"

"Yeah, he's grown ears and a tail so far…but we've been noticing some other signs too."

"And where is he now?"

"Trying to stay calm so he won't speed up the transformation. I at least remember that much from your dissertation." Vick gave a hum of deep thought from the other line before Skips continued. "I know it's kind of out of the way for you but we really need your help."

"Say no more," Vick responded. "You still work at the park correct?"

"Yeah," Skips confirmed.

"Then I'll grab my things and be over as soon as I can."

"Great, thanks Vick."

"It's no problem," Vick replied. Before Skips could hang up the phone he heard Vick hastily say something that caught his attention. "And Skips, one more thing you should be aware of."

"Yeah?"

"When a Rage Wolf manages to bite and mark someone, they never stray far from their victim until they've fully turned. But if you're friend is fighting to stave off the transformation, there's no telling for sure what they might do." Skips paled slightly upon hearing the ominous warning.

"Understood. We'll see you soon." With that said, Skips hung up and turned to Mordecai and Rigby.

"So?" Mordecai questioned. "What'd he say?"

"Vick's on his way over now. Unfortunately he also says that the Rage Wolf that bit Benson might make a return debut too." Mordecai and Rigby exchanged twin looks of concern.

"That's not good," Rigby said stating the obvious.

"We got to get back to the house and fast," Skips proclaimed as they headed towards the door. However they were stopped by the ringing of the phone Skips had just hung up not even two minutes before.

"Now what?" Mordecai asked exasperated as Skips once more went over to the phone and answered.

"Hello?"

"Finally," an elderly and gruff voice barked out loud enough for even Mordecai and Rigby to hear. The trio felt their stomachs sink as they instantly recognized the voice.

"Mr. Maellard?" Skips asked.

"Of course it's me!" the older lolliman snapped. "I've been trying to get in touch with someone all day but the landlines to the house aren't connecting and Beanteen won't pick up his cell phone!"

"Wait, the landlines to the house are down?" Skips looked worriedly to Mordecai and Rigby as they feared what this might mean.

"Yes they're down," Mr. Maellard retorted. "And if I can't even get in touch with my so-called park manager, then I shudder to think what else isn't getting taken care of. In hindsight, I suppose it's actually a good thing I'm on my way over now for the evaluation."

"What?!" Skips, Mordecai, and Rigby nearly shouted in alarm.

"Yes, some things came up with some of my other businesses that I have to attend to that will have me out of town for a while, which is why I'm seeing to the evaluation now. That's not a problem, is it?" Maellard asked suspiciously.

"No, of course not sir," Skips replied politely.

"Good. And you tell Beanton if he wants to keep his job _and _his head, he'd better be ready!" With that last, harsh remark Maellard hung up the phone with a slam.

"Dude, Mr. Maellard's coming?" Rigby asked wide-eyed.

"We're screwed," Mordecai stated.

"Not yet," Skips cut in. "We still have some time. You two go back to the house and tell Pops and Benson what's going on. I'll round up Muscle Man, High Fives, and Thomas and meet you back there for the evaluation. Go!" Skips ordered as the three split up to take care of their respective tasks.

* * *

Once back at the house, Mordecai and Rigby rushed through the front door, nearly bowling over Pops who was passing through the foyer.

"Mordecai, Rigby. Is everything all right? Did you contact that Vick character?"

"Yeah, but we've got other problems," Mordecai responded.

"Whatever do you mean?" Pops inquired tilting his head. Mordecai and Rigby explained to Pops about what Vick had said and of course, Mr. Maellard's untimely approach as well.

"Oh my, this _is _quite the pickle," Pops said with worry.

"Ain't that the truth," Rigby agreed. "So where's Benson?"

"He's in the kitchen with Ms. Audrey," Pops answered.

"Wait, Audrey's here?" Mordecai asked.

"Geeze, who else is going to show up? Death?" Rigby remarked.

"Don't even joke dude. Come on," Mordecai motioned as they headed for the kitchen. They peeked in to see Benson and Audrey seated at the table with some mugs of coffee before them, chatting and (oddly enough as it was for Mordecai and Rigby) laughing.

"…So Muscle Man calls the guy over and says 'the next time you want to bring me a live chicken for my meal, it better be on the house!'" Benson finished apparently telling a story to a giggling Audrey.

"That is too funny," she said after her chuckles died down. "Do you really deal with things like that?"

"More than you think," Benson replied before his jovial expression slowly became one of regret. "Listen, I know I've said this before but I'm sorry this get-together isn't anything fancier." Audrey shook her head.

"Don't worry about it Benson. I know your job is more demanding than it looks and you're needed a lot around here. Honestly, I'm just glad I finally get to spend some time with you," Audrey said sweetly as she placed her hand gently on top of Benson's that was resting on the table. Benson returned the gesture with a sincere smile, nearly allowing his hidden tail to wag ever so slightly in delight. From beyond the doorway Rigby made quiet gagging sounds at what the sappy romance, barely able to stifle a grunt of pain upon receiving a swift punch to the arm from Mordecai who frowned at the immature raccoon's behavior. However, Benson still heard the commotion from outside the room and looked over his shoulder to see the three employees standing there. Biting back a growl of irritation, Benson turned to Audrey who had just noticed they were there.

"I'm sorry Audrey but it looks like something's come up. Can you excuse me for a minute?"

"Of course," she answered with an understanding yet sad smile. Benson got up from his seat and walked out of the room a ways from the doorway so Audrey couldn't overhear them. Benson glared at them but before he could say anything Rigby spoke first.

"Benson you dog," Rigby remarked with a sly smile. However, Benson clearly didn't appreciate the comment as his eyes shifted into that of a wolf's again.

"Is that some kind of sick joke?" Benson ground out angrily through clenched teeth obviously taking it as more of a blow to his appearance due to the transformation than a lighthearted comment.

"What? No!" Rigby defended realizing his error. "I didn't mean—" Suddenly he noticed the new wardrobe Benson was wearing. "Wait, is that my Fist Pump jacket and Mordecai's cap?" Caught off guard by the random question, Benson's anger faltered. He let out a sigh as he regained his composure and eyes changed back to normal.

"What do you two want? Did Skips manage to get a hold of that Vick guy?"

"Yeah," Mordecai responded with a nod. "He said he'd be over shortly." Benson let out a relieved sigh.

"Good, the sooner I'm back to normal the better."

"Yeah, but that's the good news," Mordecai said slightly dismayed. Benson immediately felt his hopes plummet.

"Dare I ask what the bad news is."

"Mr. Maellard's on his way over now too," Mordecai said.

"What?!" Benson exclaimed a bit louder than he had intended. He looked over his shoulder hoping that Audrey didn't catch anything; thankfully she hadn't so he turned his attention back to his employees. "Why is he coming over now? He said the evaluation wouldn't be for a few more days!" Benson exclaimed in a panicked tone.

"Benson, please calm yourself," Pops implored fearing it might cause the bite mark to react. "Skips is gathering everyone else for father's arrival and I'm sure that all of the day's work is taken care of. There's nothing to fret over." Mordecai and Rigby exchanged worried and knowing looks about the Rage Wolf that might not be too far behind either. However, they both silently agreed that it was best not to tell Benson that right now in fear of pushing his transformation over the edge.

"Yeah Benson, all we have to do is get through the evaluation," Mordecai assured. "If Vick shows up during it, Rigby and I can pull him away, explain what's going on, and have him lay low until Maellard leaves."

"Then Vick cures you and bam! Everything's okay again," Rigby concluded. Benson was unsure about the hasty plan but didn't seem to have any better ideas.

"I guess we don't have much of a choice," he admitted before a dismal realization hit him: Audrey. He looked back to Audrey who was sitting in the kitchen stirring her cup of coffee waiting once more for Benson's return. Pops, Mordecai and Rigby followed his gaze and immediately caught on to what Benson was thinking.

"We're sorry Benson, but Audrey needs to leave for this to work," Mordecai sympathized.

"No, you're right," Benson admitted dejectedly.

"Perhaps when this mess is over and done with you can make it up to Ms. Audrey by taking her out to a fancy dinner," Pops consoled placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Benson didn't reply but only took a deep breath to steel himself before going back into the kitchen where Audrey was waiting. When she looked up she instantly noticed the dispirited look on his face.

"Benson, is everything alright?" Audrey asked as the others looked in from the doorway.

"Well, not exactly," Benson started rubbing the back of his head. "You see—" Before Benson could say anything more a heavy knock came from outside startling all five of the house's current occupants. They all left the kitchen as their gazes fell to the front door. Immediately, the park employees feared who might be on the other side and exchanged looks of concern. Swallowing his panic, Benson cautiously approached the door as everyone (Audrey included sensing the tension in the air) followed closely behind. He tentatively grabbed the doorknob before mustering his courage and yanking it open. However, instead of Maellard, Vick, the other park workers (or thankfully another Rage Wolf) a young man in uniform with the word "Tony's Pizzeria" written on his visor was at the door holding a square cardboard pizza box.

"Uh, one large half-carnivore and half-veggie special for Benson," the young man said clearly confused by the odd behavior of the ones who had opened the door. Everyone inside merely released the breaths they didn't know they were holding and visibly relaxed.

"You ordered a pizza?" Rigby asked looking to Benson.

"How was I supposed to know the issues with Maellard and Vick were going to pop up before we even ate our lunch," Benson defended as he took the box from the pizza guy.

"Wait, what issues are you talking about?" Audrey asked. Benson paled at the slip of the tongue but before he could come up with a response, the pizza guy cut in.

"Ahem. So that'll be $9.95 for the pizza, and a tip of course is greatly appreciated," he hinted. However, before he could get his payment, a hairy, clawed hand burst through the pizza guy's chest. Audrey screamed while Mordecai, Rigby, Pops and Benson shouted in alarm (causing Benson to drop the pizza). The pizza guy looked down at his wound.

"Aw man, I'm going to need an ice pack for this," he stated just before he was hurled into his car and sending the vehicle up in flames. The large wolf-like creature with dark brown fur that was responsible for the attack then turned back to the park gang, standing on its hind legs, and let out a snarl.

"INSIDE!" Benson yelled slamming the door just in time as the beast hit the door before attempting to break it down. "Find something to barricade the door!" He ordered as he put his weight into the door to keep it closed. Pops began sliding a cabinet that was up against the wall over as Mordecai and Rigby assisted.

"What is that thing?" Audrey asked in a panic.

"Dude, I know that Vick guy said they'd be close but I didn't think the Rage Wolves would show up _this_ soon," Rigby accidentally blabbed.

"You two _knew_ about this?!" Benson snapped accusingly. But before they could reply at least three other sets of clawed paws broke through the door's glass window, one wrapping a furry arm around his neck and the others grabbed Benson by the shoulders attempting to pull him through.

"BENSON!" They all shouted rushing forward and tried to pull him back by his arms and legs. A brief bout of tug-of-war ensued before the Rage Wolf that was previously banging on the door also assisted and, with the added strength, wrenched Benson out of the Audrey, Pops, Mordecai and Rigby's grasp with the wristband that concealed his mark getting ripped off in the process (but thankfully none of the other clothes that hid his wolf appendages suffered the same fate).

As he got pulled through the window, he struggled in the Rage Wolves' grip until he managed to get free but inadvertently sent him tumbling down the porch steps. A bit banged and cut up but not seriously hurt, Benson attempted to get up but the five Rage Wolves that were present approached. Mordecai, Rigby, Pops, and Audrey emerged from the house, wielding baseball bats and other makeshift weapons, to help Benson but was blocked off by the remaining four Rage Wolves as the more dominant, brown furred one continued to approach the fallen gumball machine.

Crawling backwards in an attempt to get away, the werewolf closed in now on all fours. But before it could attempt anything, a discarded, sweaty yet familiar blue shirt was thrown into the leading wolf's face disorienting it due to its smell. The rumbling of the golf cart's engine caused Benson to look behind him and to his relief he saw Skips and the rest of his employees approach.

"Yo fleabag!" Muscle Man shouted obviously being the one who hurled his shirt given his bare top half. "Why don't you pick on someone in your own hairy weight class, like this guy!" Muscle Man said as Skips rushed the disoriented Rage Wolf with a shovel knocking it out with a yelp.

"Hairy huh?" Skips repeated looking to Muscle Man unamused after helping Benson to his feet.

"Don't get me wrong bro, it looks good on you," the dwarfish green man said as he recovered his shirt. The other four werewolves launched into attack mode as all the park workers, wielding whatever makeshift weapons they could, fought back. Mordecai and Rigby, wielding baseball bats, smacked a smaller Rage Wolf off the porch as Audrey rushed over to Benson.

"Are you alright?" she asked checking him over.

"I'm fine," he assured before noticing a charging Rage Wolf behind her. "Look out!" He exclaimed pointing to the advancing beast. Before it could reach them, however it was struck in the back of the head with a sturdy piece of lumber courtesy of Pops.

"Benson, take Audrey and get out of here!" Skips shouted from his battle with one of a stronger looking black furred Rage Wolf.

"But you guys—"

"We'll be fine, we're not the ones they're after. NOW GO!"

"What does he mean by 'we're not the ones they're after'?" Audrey questioned as Benson grabbed her hand.

"I don't think right now is the best time to explain," Benson replied as he led her away.

"Point taken," Audrey relented as they headed for the trees. Unfortunately, they didn't get far as the leading Rage Wolf with the brown fur that was first knocked out by Skips had come to and tackled Benson. Audrey screamed once more catching everyone's attention as Benson and the Rage Wolf grappled on the ground. Benson brought both legs up and kicked the Rage Wolf off of him. As it shook itself off and looked to Benson who was protectively standing in front of Audrey so it couldn't reach her. The others gathered around Benson as the Rage Wolves took the leading wolf's side and prepared to engage in battle once more. However, the first Rage Wolf did something they did not expect: it spoke.

"_Why do you fight us brother?_" Needless to say, everyone was shocked and of course confused.

"It talks!" Audrey exclaimed surprised.

"But dude, why is it talking like that?" Rigby asked catching Benson's attention.

"Like _that_?" He repeated confused. "It was speaking perfect English, wasn't it?"

"English? Benson, did you hit your head or something?" Muscle Man questioned. Benson was immediately disturbed. How could he clearly understand the Rage Wolf when no one else could?

"_It is only natural that outsiders would not understand our proud language. Not like how you can my brother_," the Rage Wolf replied upon seeing Benson's disquiet.

"Brother?" Benson muttered as he took a step back. The others immediately sensed something was off as they watched the Rage Wolf continue to speak directly to their boss as if he could understand it.

"_That's right. I ask again, why do you fight us? We only wish to bring you back to the pack where you belong. Do you honestly think you will be happy remaining here?_" Benson took another step back, shaking his head at what the Rage Wolf was telling him.

"Benson, what's going on?" Skips questioned as they all looked at him with probing gazes.

"I—Argh!" Benson was cut off from saying anything by the mark on his arm that started pulsing strongly, almost as if to and respond to the Rage Wolves before them. He grasped his arm tightly and cringed.

"Benson!" Audrey exclaimed not knowing what was wrong with him as he grunted in pain. The brown-haired Rage Wolf approached him on all fours but was intercepted by Mordecai and Rigby who swung their bats.

"Step off man!" Rigby demanded eliciting a growl from the Rage Wolf.

"_Away with you!_" It demanded swinging its arm and knocking the bats away. Unarmed, Mordecai and Rigby retreated back rejoining the group. Suddenly, a tear gas canister flew through the air and landed before the Rage Wolves before cracking open and releasing an unpleasant stench that actually drove the Rage Wolves back as they whined and covered their noses. The screeching of tires caught everyone's attention as a clunky van pulled up to the scene and a man in his early or mid 50s got out. He was a somewhat portly man with graying hair tied back in a ponytail and sporting spectacles on the bridge of his nose, wearing a tan leather vest with tassels along with blue jeans and cowboy boots.

"Vick," Skips declared.

"Seems like I was a little late in getting here," the man now confirmed as Vick replied as a flung another canister that detonated. Unable to handle the noxious fumes anymore, the Rage Wolves began to retreat but not before the leading werewolf turned his attention back to Benson who was still trying to overcome the mark's effects.

"_This is not over brother. We will return and next time we will bring the pack_!" And with that last note, they retreated into the trees and out of sight. Vick joined the others as Benson began to feel the mark's pulsing fade. When Benson straightened up from hunching over due to the discomfort, he could feel the stares of the other park workers as well as Audrey's questioning gaze as she could clearly see the forming mark that she could swear was faintly glowing not too long ago.

"Benson, what was that all about?" Pops asked.

"Yeah, you seemed to have a pretty good idea of what those Rage Wolves were saying," Skips added.

"Rage Wolves?" Audrey repeated. "What on earth are those and what were they doing here?" Audrey questioned. "And what happened to your arm?"

"I…Oh no!" Benson could only utter as he saw a white stallion limousine pull up. The others as well noticed and knew they were in hot water now. Maellard got out of his car and upon seeing the damage to the house and front yard (and of course the pizza guy's car that was still on fire) could only stare at the damage before turning to the park workers, Benson specifically, and gave a ferocious scowl.

"What in the name of Sam Hill happened here?" the cranky old lolliman snapped.

"Mr. Maellard I—"

"You know what? I don't want to hear your excuses Beanbag," Maellard interrupted as he approached his park manager. "I leave you in charge of my park, expect no more than seeing it in the same condition, preferably improved, but come back and instead find the place in shambles like a fight had just broke out and you dressed like a hooligan!" He angrily remarked motioning to Benson's borrowed attire with his cane.

"Sir I can explain," Benson tried to defend himself subconsciously taking a step back as he clutched his arm close to his body. The mark began to react far more strongly than he could manage as he tried to keep the oncoming change he could feel approach at bay. The others of course noticed this as well as Vick who knew the signs all too well.

"Sir please!" Vick begged. "This man (gumball machine) is—"

"Lucky I don't call the cops about this!" Maellard interrupted not willing to listen to what anyone else has to say.

"But it wasn't his fault!" Mordecai defended. The old park owner looked to Mordecai with a snarl.

"I don't care who is at fault for this! As my park manager, whatever happens around here is _his _responsibility and _he _is going to pay for it!"

"Please stop," Benson ground out through clenched teeth as he scrunched his eyes closed in an unsuccessful attempt to keep himself from trembling under the strain of the impending change.

"Stop?" Maellard repeated. "The only thing that's going to stop around here is your ridiculous antics otherwise you're going to find yourself in the unemployment line!" It was that threat that sent Benson over the edge as he was unable to hold back the transformation any longer. He cried out and collapsed to the ground as his hand fell away revealing the mark that was pulsing and continuing its formation.

"What in blazes?!" Maellard exclaimed as they all took a step back as Benson writhed in agony on the ground and his body once more began to change. Claws grew from the tops of his metal fingertips and tips of his feet. His already slightly sharpened canines became more pronounced as his other teeth began to grow sharper. And the others watched horrified as his eyes changed into that of a wolf's, which were now an eerie golden in color. As these changes occurred the beanie and jacket Benson was wearing slowly fell off his body and revealing his ears and tail. With one last cry, Benson's transformation slowly came to an end. Worn out from the mind-numbing but partial transfiguration, Benson was out cold before the mark's ghostly glow could completely fade.

"Benson!" Pops and the other workers (including Audrey) exclaimed as they rushed to his side. Maellard however just stood there, for once speechless by what had just occurred.

"What the devil just happened?" Maellard asked managing to find his voice. No one answered him right away as Vick just looked the were-gumball machine over before turning back to the group.

"He's getting worse. We need to get him inside where he won't be exposed to any more transformation triggers," Vick asserted slinging one of Benson's arms over his shoulder as Skips took the other arm.

"Now wait just a minute!" Maellard snapped. "I don't know who you are and quite frankly I don't care. I want answers and I want them now!"

"I'll explain everything once we're inside and Benson here regains consciousness." Unsatisfied with that answer, Maellard was about to protest but upon ultimately relented. The group made their way into the slightly damaged house to restlessly await their park manager's awakening.

* * *

Author's Notes: Yeesh! Another long chapter. Hopefully it satisfied you all to make up for the wait. This chapter was kind of fun to write, especially the Benson x Audrey parts. Audrey is a character in the series that hasn't really had a chance to develop outside of a love interest for Benson (heck even Muscle Man's girlfriend Starla gets more of a chance at character development) so I found it kind of fun to create an actual personality for her and I think the pairing has a lot of possibilities that hasn't really been explored, even in the show. Bringing Maellard into the story was also a spur of the moment thing but who knows; maybe he can prove to be an interesting component to the story (if I decide to keep him in there). I also wanted to do a different font style/type that seemed cryptic and ancient for the Rage Wolf language but what I selected couldn't show up on the Doc Manager so I just opted for the English translations. Anyways, you know the routine: please read, review, and enjoy and see you all next chapter!


	5. Research Whoas and Oh Nos (Part 1)

Chapter 5: Research Whoas and Oh Nos (Part 1)

As Benson finally began to stir he could vaguely register the faraway voices of whoever was in the room with him.

"He's waking up!"

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Stand back and give him some air." When he finally managed to open his now golden, wolf-like eyes the first thing he could make out was a blurry images of the other park workers who hovered over him. After blinking several times to clear his vision he could see their uneasy expressions. A moment passed before his memories came flooding back to him and he shot up from once more being laid down on the couch with a gasp.

"Benson relax. You're okay," Mordecai assured seeing the panic flash across his boss's face.

"For the most part anyways," Rigby added earning him a stern glare from the others and causing him to shrink back slightly. Benson looked down at his hands and feet and saw to his dismay that he was now equipped with some sharp, wicked looking claws. He could only imagine what else the latest transformation had done to him. He brought his hands up to his face to investigate as his fingers came across his now more pronounced fangs, which gave him a slight overbite. He placed his hands on top of his head and felt his once more exposed ears. A quick glance over his shoulder also revealed his tail. Discouraged by his worsened state, he tried to get up from the couch but was stopped by Pops who placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. The kind lolliman gave an understanding look and motioned for him to stay put and take it easy.

"How long was I out this time?" Benson asked hesitantly.

"About an hour," a gruff voice answered. By the tone of the speaker's voice, as well as the scent of heavy and expensive cologne in the air, Benson knew right away who it belonged to. Sure enough, the others moved to the side to let in a frowning Mr. Maellard followed by a speechless Audrey into the gathered group. Benson looked away ashamed, his ears drooping as he realized that he must look like some sort of monster to them now.

"I…" Benson started unsure of what to say. However Audrey approached him and tenderly placed a hand on his cheek turning his gaze back to her. She looked him over for several moments before finally speaking.

"Benson, what's happening to you?" she asked gently.

"Actually I believe I might be better able to explain that," another voice spoke up before Benson could respond. The others glanced to the doorway as Vick (being the one who had spoken) along with another man walked in. The other man appeared to be much younger than Vick, possibly in his late 30s. He was a somewhat lithe man of about Benson's height dressed in a simple button up shirt wearing a black blazer and pants. He also had a sleek head of black hair and a thin black mustache. His grey eyes seemed to bore straight into Benson when his gaze fell upon him.

"Vick, who's this?" Skips asked curiously indicating to the new presence.

"Ah yes. This is my research assistant Sykes," Vick introduced.

"Charmed," the man now confirmed as Sykes greeted albeit rather curtly.

"I called him previously to ask him to bring over the rest of my research materials. After seeing specifically what we are dealing with I believe we're going to need them," Vick explained. That last comment put Benson slightly on edge. The last thing he wanted right now was to be treated like some sort of science experiment.

"Now hold on," Maellard snapped. "As I've said before I don't know who you think you are but what makes you think you can just start calling the shots around here?" Maellard asked pointing a finger at Vick. "Furthermore, I've been waiting for too long to hear a proper explanation as to what is going on in _my _park and before anything else is said or done I want those answers NOW!" the elderly lolliman demanded.

"Father," Pops started not liking the harsh tone of his father's voice.

"No it's alright. It's only fair that I explain myself," Vick cut in before clearing his throat and taking a business-like posture with his hands behind his back. "My full name is Vincent R. Simmons, PhD in Cryptozoology."

"Crypto- what?" Rigby repeated tilting his head to the side in clear confusion.

"Cryptozoology," Thomas repeated. "That's from the Greek word 'kryptos' meaning 'hidden' and zoology is the study of animals. So it's the study of hidden animals right?" Needless to say the park workers were taken aback by the intern goat's sudden show of knowledge. "What? I _am_ a college student remember," Thomas added catching the stunned expressions on his coworkers' faces (though not without some silent and smug satisfaction).

"Precisely," Vick confirmed with a pleasantly surprised smile. "In other words, cryptozoology is the search for and study of animals whose existence or survival is either disputed or unsubstantiated. The Tisquantum Ty-Ohni, or 'Rage Wolf' as it is more commonly referred to, is a special and rather rare type of werewolf that I personally specialize in."

"And what does any of this malarkey have to do with the current situation?" Maellard impatiently questioned.

"I'm afraid the answer to that is currently sitting on your couch," Sykes replied casting a glance to the hybrid-like gumball machine. Benson's ears laid back slightly as he averted his gaze from the others.

"What Sykes means to say is that earlier today I had received a call from Skips here, who is actually an old acquaintance of mine, saying that a friend of his was actually bitten by a Rage Wolf, evident by that mark on his arm," Vick explained as Benson subconsciously placed a hand to the half-way formed mark on his right arm.

"What? Bitten?" Maellard repeated. He didn't know much about the strange or the supernatural (his own experiences in the park aside) but it didn't take an expert to know that a bite from a werewolf was a bad thing. "Is this true?" he asked brusquely looking to his park manager. Benson barely resisted the urge to flinch but nevertheless directed his gaze back onto his boss.

"Yes sir," he answered somewhat meekly.

"Oh Benson," Audrey exclaimed quietly as she placed her hand to her mouth in worry. "When?"

"Last night. Not long after talking to you actually," Benson answered casting her a quick glance. "I went out to the alley behind the apartment to take care of the trash when it attacked and bit me. But I didn't know it at the time. I just thought it was a big dog. I didn't think twice about anything until…until _this_ started happening," he said indicating to his now altered appearance.

"That's actually one thing I don't get," Mordecai interrupted drawing everyone's attention. "Werewolves are only supposed to change with the full moon right?"

"Hey yeah," Rigby said catching on. "So how come he's changing like this now?"

"And what's up with that freaky mark on his arm?" Muscle Man chipped in motioning to the half-formed mark on their Benson's arm that was.

"As I mentioned before, the Tisquantum Ty-Ohni aren't your typical werewolves," Vick replied. "Their transformation isn't restricted to the phases of the moon nor forced to change back during the day, if at all. Instead it's based on the changes in their demeanor, specifically when they get angry or stressed, hence the name. Roughly translated 'Tisquantum' is derived from the Wampanoag term for 'divine rage'."

"That explains the subtle changes whenever Benson got upset over something," Skips confirmed.

"Yes. As for the mark, it is like a branding, which ties you to the pack. Each time the transformation progresses, so does the mark."

"Branding?" Benson repeated paling slightly looking to the foreboding symbol.

"How much time does Benson have left before…" Pops asked fearfully unable to finish his sentence.

"You misunderstand," Vick said. "It only serves as a problem when it is fully formed, indicating the peak of the transformation. But it looks to me that it is only half-formed," Vick assured upon closely inspecting the mark on Benson's arm. "As long as you keep your emotions in check it shouldn't have to come to that." Everyone let out a small, relieved breath upon hearing this. "Yes. Theoretically, a person can keep the transformation at bay for months or even _years _after being bitten so long as the pack doesn't interfere. However it's what we witnessed with those attacking Rage Wolves that concerns me."

"What do you mean by that Vick?" Skips asked as the others immediately became worried of the ominous statement.

"You see, unlike typical werewolves who bite and infect others in an effort to spread the curse, Rage Wolves typically avoid humans. And when they do attack they are very selective with who they choose to turn. When a victim is marked, they typically always observe and wait from a distance until the bitten concedes and gives in to the transformation, no matter how long that may take. However, it seemed that the Rage Wolves that attacked before were directly trying to influence the transformation in any way they could, which is not their typical behavior. In fact it seemed almost…desperate," Vick said mentally noting the strangeness of it before continuing.

"Furthermore the only Rage Wolf capable of biting and marking a victim is the alpha male of the pack and the ones that attacked were clearly lower ranking members, most likely omegas or scouts."

"Scouts? Seriously?" High Five Ghost questioned.

"Yes," Vick nodded. "Unlike a normal wolf pack, which hunts as a whole, the scouts' jobs are mainly food gathering and often times reconnaissance when in a strange or new environment. They don't typically make contact with anyone _even_ if they're another pack member."

"Speaking of contact, how was it Benson seemed to understand whatever strange language they were speaking?" Thomas asked as all eyes fell on Benson.

"How should I know?" he remarked defensively as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat from the unwanted attention.

"It's most likely a result thanks to the transformation," Sykes responded.

"Sykes is right," Vick affirmed. "Unfortunately not much in known about their language but there have been rumors that those marked have been able to telepathically link with other Rage Wolves to communicate longer distances than the typical communication of howling. From what I understand, it's a highly valued ability."

"I bet that saves a fortune on long distance calls," Rigby joked causing another swift punch to the arm from Mordecai. "OW! Stop punching me!" Rigby demanded rubbing his arm and shooting a glare to his taller friend.

"Only if you stop saying stupid things," Mordecai retorted. "This is serious!"

"You think I don't know that. I was just trying to lighten the mood."

"ENOUGH!" Benson half-snapped, half-growled as he quickly stood, eyes shifting into a more beast-like state by narrowing into slits at the two bickering employees. The others, even Mr. Maellard, took a cautious half step back in worry at the sudden and disturbing change. The irritation on Benson's face quickly left and his eyes went back to normal (or at least back into wolf mode) when he saw their expressions of concern and fear. "I'm sorry," he muttered sheepishly, his ears drooping slightly once more as he directed his gaze to the ground.

"Don't worry about it Benson," Skips assured placing a comforting hand on his boss and friend's shoulder. "What exactly did they say when they were communicating with you?" Benson thought for a second before looking to his best worker.

"It was like Vick had said. They were trying to convince me to give in to the transformation. And for some reason they kept calling me 'brother'."

"Brother?" Pops repeated unnerved.

"That actually sounds quite typical," Vick cut in. "Like a normal wolf pack, they are social animals and are well-known to share close ties with one another."

"Speaking of the pack, there's something else," Benson started reluctantly as his memories went back to the scout leader's parting words. Catching the tension in Benson's voice, the others looked to him with concern. "They said they'd be coming back, and that they would bring the whole pack with them." The others' eyes went wide at this new information.

"Oh no bro," Muscle Man uttered.

"You mean that was just the beginning?" Rigby asked incredulously.

"But why?" Audrey asked perturbed. "Why Benson? What is it that they want?"

"I'm afraid I can't say for sure," Vick responded. "No one quite knows why they choose to turn others, it's hypothesized that it might have something to do with boosting their population numbers or widening the gene pool but it's hard to say for sure. But I do know one thing: they are not behaving typically, which makes them unpredictable and far more dangerous. Whatever their goals might be, whether they are looking to enhance the transformation or anything else, it's clear they'll do whatever they deem necessary to achieve them." Everyone, Benson especially, paled in grim understanding.

"Well we're not going to let that happen," Mordecai interjected with resolve.

"Indeed," Pops agreed followed by nods and similar words from the others. "Surely there must be some way we can change Benson back to normal?"

"Unlikely," Sykes merely stated crossing his arms.

"Actually," Vick started as he placed a hand to his chin in thought. "I believe there _might _be something in my research notes on that subject. But it could take some time."

"At this point, I'd say there's not much choice," Benson said.

"What are we waiting for then?" Maellard spoke up. "The sooner we get this mess taken care of, the sooner I get my park manager back doing his job."

"Alright. I'll just need some help bringing my research materials inside," Vick declared as Skips, Muscle Man, Mordecai, and Thomas followed him out.

"I shall help as well sir," Sykes said also following his employer. However, he cast one last unreadable yet strangely discomforting look to the hybrid gumball machine before exiting the room. For a brief moment Benson could have sworn he could smell an ever so faint, yet somehow familiar, coppery scent that seemed to linger behind before it too seemed to leave the room.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Happy Fourth of July everyone! I have received a comment from one of my readers who was kind enough to review that the chapter length that I have been posting was a bit overwhelming and since this chapter is so big I've decide to split it into three parts to make it more manageable. I had major inspiration to write this chapter specifically after visiting a Wolf Conservation Center in Manitou Springs for a brief vacation from home and job/internship hunting. The information on Tisquantum I got from Wikipedia (finding a direct translation for the word "rage" in Native American was kind of difficult) and I just went with one of the generic Native American words that sounded like it would fit well with the word "Tisquantum." Anyways, part 2 of Chapter 5 should be up most likely in a few days. Until then, please read, review and enjoy!**


	6. Research Whoas and Oh Nos (Part 2)

Chapter 5 continued: Research Whoas and Oh Nos (Part 2)

Roughly two hours later, the clock read 5:15 pm. This meant the park was now closed to the public and normally the others would be wrapping up whatever last minute work needed to be completed by 6:00 when the sun was supposed to set. Instead however, everyone was situated in the living room, which was covered with notebooks and binders and other important documents strewn all over the floor and in piles, each reading a different stack.

"Ugh, I haven't read this much since high school," Rigby complained tossing one of the books he had finished reading aside and leaning backwards until he was flat on his back.

"Dude, you _never_ read this much in high school," Mordecai pointed out looking up from one of the binders he was currently reading from his spot against the wall. "It was one of the reasons why you never got your high school diploma."

"Oh don't even start that again!" Rigby snapped. Benson simply rolled his eyes and lightly shook his head at the two before going back to the booklet he was currently going over from his spot in the corner of the room closest to the windows. However as he turned the page he recoiled slightly at an ancient Native American diagram of a Rage Wolf mutilating a human. Benson's ears went back in disgust as he let out an uneasy sigh and closed the book with the bleak picture.

"You okay?" Skips asked looking over Benson who merely returned it with an unamused look. "Sorry, standard question," Skips apologized understanding his boss' plight.

"It's fine," Benson replied with a wave of his hand. "Although looking at a million and one ways to see how my current situation can go horribly wrong doesn't exactly do much for my self esteem," he replied sarcastically. Audrey glanced up from one of Vick's research articles and gave him a sympathetic look from her spot in a nearby chair.

"Perhaps a nap might do you a bit of good," Pops suggested looking up from a document of his own. "You've looked awfully tired ever since this morning." Hearing this, Maellard also glanced over to the werewolf hybrid from his seat beside his son on the couch.

"I'm alright Pops," Benson declined as he got to his feet. "I'll just go splash some water on my face." With that Benson left the room and went into the foyer passing by Skips' tool belt, which was used to fix up the front door from the previous Rage Wolf attack and now sat on the cabinet that was moved back to its proper position against the wall. From there, Benson entered the back hallway where the downstairs bathroom was located. Closing the door behind him, he turned to the sink and gasped, nearly having a small heart attack upon catching his reflection in the mirror. He noticed the change of his now golden eyes for the first time as they darted over his reflection in the mirror. The dark bags under his eyes also seemed to bring out his wolf-like eyes even more so.

"Is this really me?" Benson muttered as his magenta-colored ears twitched in surreal curiosity and he raised a hand to his face. Spotting his more pronounced canines he opened his mouth and was greeted with some much sharper looking teeth. Closing his mouth he looked down at himself before directing his attention over his shoulder and, out of detached curiosity, experimentally willed his tail to move. In the mirror he could see it swish the air. He couldn't help but crack a faint smile before realizing what he was doing and immediately stopped. Slightly embarrassed, he took one last hard look in the mirror before letting out a discouraged sigh, ears laying flat against his head. He turned on the cold-water tap, cupping his hands under the water and splashed some of the refreshing liquid onto his face a few times as he bent over the sink. Shutting off the water, he reached for the towel to dry his face off, his sharpened claws catching the threads of it and inadvertently causing some of them to become undone and frayed.

"Ugh, stupid claws!" Benson growled irritably as he managed to shake the towel loose. Glaring at the sharpened nails, Benson rummaged through the drawer beside the sink and pulled out a pair of nail clippers. Being a gumball machine, he had never had fingernails or toenails to clip before so there was a bit of difficulty at first. Eventually he managed to figure out how the contraption worked but when he tried to clip the first claw the flimsy clippers broke under the sheer thickness of his claw. Dropping the now useless pieces of scrap metal, Benson let out a frustrated grunt before remembering spotting Skips' tool belt. Leaving the bathroom, he re-entered the foyer and grabbed a pair of small but strong bolt cutters from Skips' tool belt. However as he turned to go back to the privacy of the restroom, his ears perked up from the voices of the others in the living room.

"I'm afraid this is pointless," the voice belonging to Sykes spoke up. "There's only so many of your research materials we can search and so far we haven't found a thing." Benson quietly approached the doorway as he couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Patience comes to those who seek it," Vick's voice replied.

"Isn't the saying: 'patience comes to those who wait'?" Thomas' voice asked.

"Not in this case," Vick simply replied.

"How do we even know for sure there _is_ a cure?" Sykes questioned. Benson's heart sunk at that possibility.

"You doubt my research?" Vick asked and Benson could tell by his tone of voice that Vick was at least partially offended.

"No sir, I doubt your optimism," Sykes countered. "It's not likely that the answer is just going to make itself known because we believe things will work in our favor."

"Um actually," Pops started looking up from the spiral notebook. "I believe I may have found something." The others looked to the lolliman shocked before quickly gathering around. Benson was also tempted to join but resisted the urge.

"What did you find Pops?" Mordecai asked as he looked over his shoulder from behind the couch.

"Well this notebook was going into details of possible remedies that ancient natives would often partake in to rid themselves of what they thought were evil curses brought on by Rage Wolf bites but…"

"But what?" Rigby asked pressingly.

"I'm afraid the next page appears to be missing."

"What?!" Vick exclaimed as he took the notebook from Pops. Sure enough, as he turned the page the talk of possible remedies was cut off and the next available page went into a completely different topic.

"It looks like it was ripped out," Skips noted aloud after studying it closely.

"No," Audrey muttered dispiritedly.

"But who could have done that?" Muscle Man asked.

"Yeah and why?" High Five Ghost added.

"I haven't the foggiest," Vick responded. "My research materials are always kept under lock and key. Aside from myself, no one else should have access to it." Everyone's, especially the eavesdropping Benson's, hopes were immediately diminished. They were all silent for a moment until Thomas decided to speak first.

"So…what do we do now?" the intern asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" stated Maellard, who until that point had stayed silent, as he placed the portfolio he was reading aside and got up from the couch, grabbing his cane that was leaning against the coffee table before them. "We give up."

"WHAT?!" The park employees plus Audrey simultaneously shouted.

"Mr. Maellard you can't be serious." Skips exclaimed.

"I'm dead serious," Maellard replied with a frown. "I don't like it either but what choice do we have. This clearly isn't a normal problem so aside from Mr. PhD here, we can't rely on anyone else for assistance," Maellard reasoned motioning to Vick.

"But Benson—"

"Is a lost cause!" Maellard firmly interrupted. Benson inhaled sharply from the hurtful comment.

"Father how can you say that?" Pops asked shocked at Maellard's harsh remark.

"Yeah, you're acting like Benson's as good as done for," Rigby defended.

"Look, its time to face the facts and cut our losses. Even if we were able to fend off this pack and Beanpole was able to get his 'physical condition' under control, he's a danger to not just the park but also everyone else! You all saw before how he snapped at the slightest of stimulations. What if he hurts, or heaven forbid, _bites_ someone?" The park employees were caught off guard by that last statement; they admittedly had never thought of that possibility.

"Benson would never do that," Skips affirmed after a brief silence.

"And even so, it wouldn't be an issue," Vick cut in. "Even the most aggressive Rage Wolf would never bite someone at random."

"And an aggressive Rage Wolf wouldn't maul someone either?" Maellard retorted. Vick didn't answer which was all the answer Maellard needed. "He's nothing but a liability and quite frankly I don't even feel safe enough to want to be in the same room as him." The forgotten pair of bolt cutters Benson was holding slowly slipped out of his lax grip and softly cluttered to the floor as Benson, crushed by his boss's cruel words, simply leaned against the doorframe. He felt numb from the inside out as Maellard's harsh words echoed in his head. A lump formed in his throat, which he tried to swallow as he tried to clear his head of what he had overheard. Picking up the dropped bolt cutters and placing them back in Skips' tool belt, he took a deep breath and entered the living room.

"Sorry about taking so long. Working things is a lot trickier when you have claws," Benson said with a half-baked grin trying to act casual. "So uh, what did I miss?" The others looked at him with a twinge of panic, immediately fearing if he had overheard anything.

"Uh, nothing important," Mordecai lied.

"You didn't…hear anything did you bro?" Muscle Man asked hesitantly.

"Hear what?" Benson replied offering a small but fake smile, mentally kicking himself for letting his voice crack ever so slightly. This did not go unnoticed by the others as they could tell right away by the hurt in showed in his eyes that he had overheard everything.

"Benson—" Pops started sympathetically but was interrupted by Benson.

"You know, I think I'm going to go take that nap after all," the furry gumball machine stated as he turned to head up the stairs.

"A nap? You can't be serious." Maellard exclaimed immediately irked at the suggestion as Benson started up the stairs. "Get back here Ballbucket! We're not finished talking. This is whole situation _your _doing and I expect you to take some responsibility for once!" Benson stopped halfway up the staircase and gripped the banister so tightly to control his emotions that it actually cracked slightly under the pressure of his grip.

"My name is Benson!" Benson finally said in a dangerously low tone that instantly conveyed his simmering resentment. "You could at least humor me by actually trying to call me that for a change. And while it might be hard for you to believe, I always tried my hardest in caring for your park when I'm sure any other sane person would have quit by the end of the week," he asserted barely managing to restrain his growing anger from reaching its boiling point. "Besides, I wouldn't want to stay where I'm not wanted. After all, I _am _a danger and a liability, remember," Benson said bitterly with his ears back in aggravation as he cast a dangerous look to his boss before climbing the rest of the stairs and disappearing from sight. The others were empathetically silent for a brief moment before Maellard spoke.

"The nerve of him!" he exclaimed. "Talking back to his superior like that! Maybe finding a new park manager won't be such a bad thing after all." The others were immediately appalled by Maellard's words.

"Mr. Maellard—"

**_SMACK_**

****The sound of skin on skin contact seemed to loudly echo throughout the room. Maellard stumbled back raising a hand to his reddened cheek as the others stared flabbergasted at the fuming Audrey who had her hand raised.

"How dare you!" She berated. "Ever since you got here you've been treating Benson like a criminal and blaming him for something that happened that for once was beyond his or anyone else's control. And what's worse, when he's facing a crisis and is in desperate need of help and understanding, you practically abandon him and label him as a burden and when he tries to defend himself you have the gall to ask what nerve _he _has? You should be ashamed of yourself!" With that Audrey stormed out of the room. For what seemed like an eternity, no one moved or spoke until Muscle Man finally summed up what was on everyone's minds with a single word.

"Dang!"

* * *

**Author's Notes: I'm not really sure what final notes I want to say other than "take that Maellard!" Although he seems to have mellowed out a bit recently in the series I can't deny Maellard had some sort of personal beef with Benson earlier in the show (and he ****_still_**** occasionally gets Benson's name wrong). Finally I may post a picture of Benson's current appearance on DeviantART if anyone is interested (my account name is the same as my name. The final part of Chapter 5 should be up in a couple more days so until then please read, review, and enjoy! **


	7. Research Whoas and Oh Nos (Part 3)

Chapter 5 concluded: Research Whoas and Oh Nos (Part 3)

In the guest room where Benson had decided to take refuge, he leaned against the closed door taking several breaths as several of his emotions that he normally kept bottled up raged within him. Indignant, forlorn, and ultimately frightened of what was going to happen to him now, he blinked several times as he tried to keep the excess moisture of tears from building as he tried to swallow another lump that had formed in his throat. Sliding down against the door and curling into a tight ball, Benson lowered his head, his ears mimicking the action and laying back against his head and wrapping his arms tightly around himself, not caring that his new claws dug painfully into his arms as he trembled trying to keep his emotions in check. He wanted to give in to his emotions, to scream and cry and just tear the place apart in a fit of rage. But he knew that doing that would not only seal his fate and trigger (or worse complete) the transformation, it would make the others more afraid of him than they already were.

"No matter what happens it's hopeless," Benson thought despondently.

"_Then why fight it anymore?_" A separate voice seemed to speak up. Benson's head and ears shot up as he recognized the voice to be the same internal one that he had heard twice before but instead of sounding dark and angry, it seemed compassionate and gentle.

"Huh?" Benson uttered confused before the mark on his arm faintly began to glow. At first Benson panicked, thinking the transformation was starting up again, but this time around it was a bit different. It was an almost warm and soothing feeling instead of harsh and throbbing. Benson's vision seemed to swim and he screwed his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to clear it. But when he opened his eyes Benson found himself drifting in what appeared to be an endless void. He flailed his arms in surprise as he tried to correct his balance before his feet managed to rest on a nonexistent floor.

"What is this?" He questioned aloud as he surveyed the empty expanse of space.

"_This is our linkage plane_," the voice answered from behind Benson. Startled, he turned only to see the very same Rage Wolf with the lightning bolt shaped scar across its eye and solid gray fur that first bit him standing rather proudly on all fours.

"You," Benson mumbled accusingly. "You mean all this time that strange voice that I've been hearing in my head was you?"

"_It is true_," it replied. "_My name is Menneske, leader and alpha male of the Tisquantum-Ty-Ohni. Of course, being the one to turn you, it is only natural we be connected. And once the transformation completes itself you will be connected and bound to the rest of the pack my brother_."

"Don't call me that!" Benson snapped pointing a threatening finger to the canine. "I'm not your brother and I don't want to be! I just want to go back to my old life! I want to be normal again!"

"_And what good would that do you?_" The alpha male asked rather calmly.

"What do you mean?" Benson asked suspiciously narrowing his eyes at the werewolf before him.

"_I've been watching you very closely for a while brother Benson and even without our link, I could feel your general discontent with your life_," it answered before standing on its hind legs. "_And after what I've witnessed, it's no wonder why_." It raised a clawed hand/paw that summoned a swirling mass that showed alternating images of Benson yelling at Mordecai and Rigby as the park around them was in shambles from one of their misadventures, Maellard belittling Benson in Maellard's office, and Benson sitting alone and looking upset in his easy chair back in his apartment.

"_Employees who barely respect you and bring nothing but trouble, an employer that treats you like dirt, and wasting the rest of your years alone and generally feeling unwanted. You really think you would be happy going back to that_?" Benson was silent as he watched the images. Deep down he admitted the werewolf had a point, especially after overhearing the harsh words of Maellard. Not to mention it wasn't even yesterday when he was contemplating similar things about his life choices. However he put those thoughts aside and hardened his resolve before turning his attention back to the Rage Wolf known as Menneske.

"And what makes being a Rage Wolf so appealing? And why turn _me _into one anyway?"

"_Among our kind, the amount of anger we possess determines our status and rank within the pack. And you have great potential brother Benson, we've seen that_." Menneske focused on the swirling mass as the still picture changed into a video replaying Benson in full rage mode that time Pops had forbid Benson from yelling at Mordecai and Rigby and he nearly leveled the whole park as a result of keeping his anger bottled up before finally unleashing his fury on Mordecai and Rigby. A look between realization and embarrassment dawned on his face as he averted his gaze from the replaying images.

"_The kind of divine rage that you wield is very powerful among us Rage Wolves. You could be someone with us! Far greater than you could ever be at that park_." The determination Benson had was slowly but surely chipping away.

"I…I already am somebody…" Benson said although rather unconvincingly.

"_Are you_?" Menneske asked tilting his head in a seemingly knowing way. Benson did not meet its eyes. "_Think about it __**and**__ about those you do not wish to see hurt_," the Rage Wolf said before showing one last image of the park employees before switching to an image of Audrey before the swirling pictures finally dissipated. Benson caught this and shot a glare to the Rage Wolf but before he could do or say anything else, the surrounding void seemed to waver and slowly fade in a white light. The last thing Benson could hear was Menneske's voice.

"_Whether you accept our legacy right away or not, it does not change things. We are coming for you soon brother. Be prepared_." Once more he screwed his eyes shut against the harsh light that surrounded him. When his eyes snapped open again he was back in the guest room slumped against the door. Benson slowly sat up, blinking his eyes several times as his mind processed all he had been told in the link, particularly the last parts of it all.

_"__We are coming for you brother. Be prepared."_ Those words echoed in his head as Benson gulped in worry. He shakily got to his feet placing one hand on the door behind him for balance when his ears twitched at the sounds of several pairs of footsteps coming down the hall towards the room he was in. Benson didn't need his increased senses to know who they were. Especially when one pair of feet padded across the floor in a telltale rhythmic beat and the various scents of each person that Benson immediately recognized (particularly the strong smell of wing sauce and sweat of one said person). The footsteps stopped outside the door before a gentle knock came.

"Benson," Pops' voice timidly called from the other side of the door where the rest of the other park workers were with him. "Are you alright my good man?" Benson's eye twitched slightly at that question. How did they honestly think he would be feeling right now? However he refrained from giving a sarcastic quip like he normally would have done.

"…I'm fine," Benson croaked grimly through the door. A brief silence came from the other side before another voice responded that Benson recognized as Mordecai's.

"Listen Benson, I know what you may have heard down there was…harsh. And I know that the last thing you want to hear right now are empty promises that everything's going to work out. Maybe it won't. But no matter what happens you should know that you're not alone in this."

"Indeed, we're your friends," Pops chimed in.

"We've always got your back bro," Muscle Man added followed by a grunt of agreement from Skips.

"Besides, maybe it'll be really cool being a Rage Wolf," Rigby suggested. Immediately following that comment however was the sound of a muffled "ow", which Benson could only assume meant that the smaller raccoon got punched in the arm again. Regardless, Benson felt a small warmth in his chest at his employees' words as a faint smile graced his lips. Maybe they had a point. So he was a bit harrier now and perhaps in desperate need of a nail trimming, it's not like he was dying. Maybe they could make Maellard reconsider finding another park manager. After all, the last time Maellard tried to replace him, the whole Susan incident took place and she would have demolished the park as well as crush the old lolliman if Benson hadn't stepped in when he did. He was still an asset. He could still—

_"__Think about those you do not wish to see hurt."_ Benson's thoughts froze as that ominous sentence that the leader Rage Wolf had told him echoed in his head. His optimistic attitude slowly faded as he realized things would never be that simple. Even if the Rage Wolves did decide to back off, he couldn't fight against his own anger. It was part of him, a part he often times hated, but a part of him nonetheless. And he couldn't bear to think of what would happen if his employees, the closest things he may ever have to friends, got hurt or worse because of him. He wasn't worth it.

"Benson?" Mordecai's voice spoke up again worriedly after not hearing a peep from his boss.

"…Please…Just go away," Benson finally muttered loud enough for them to hear. On the other side of the door the others, who had been hoping Benson would say something more positive, merely deflated upon hearing the desolation in their boss' voice.

"But—" Pops started before Skips placed a hand to his shoulder. The lolliman turned to look at the yeti but he simply shook his head in a way that said "leave him be". Disheartened, the employees reluctantly complied and left. Benson stared at the door listening as their footsteps went down the hall and faded away. When he was sure they were gone, Benson turned and walked over to the room's window that faced the west. The sun was almost completely set in the distance and night was beginning to fall as he stared out over the park.

"This place really _is _pretty nice when its not in ruins by crazy people or…monsters," the last word of that thought made him cringe as he looked down at his clawed hands.

_"__You really think you could be happy here...You could be someone with us…Think about those you do not wish to see hurt…We are coming for you brother."_

"Shut up!" he snapped inwardly to the repeating words in his head as he screwed his eyes shut and clenched his fists. He stayed like that for a good moment in an attempt to banish any other thoughts but his own. Eventually he composed himself and opened his eyes to look out once more at the park. Several more moments passed before he made his decision. He unlocked and opened the window.

"It's better this way," he thought as he placed on foot on the windowsill to jump out onto the second story roofing. However, before he could get any further out the window, Benson's ears twitched as he could hear another set of footsteps come from down the hallway to his room. He growled irritated and turned back to the door as the footsteps once more stopped outside his door.

"I said to go—" Benson snapped but he stopped once the scent of lavender and vanilla entered his nostrils. "Audrey?" he timidly questioned.

"…How'd you know it was me?" She asked from the other side of the door. Benson crawled back in from the windowsill and approached the shut door.

"I could smell you-your perfume," he quickly corrected in a panic. She didn't need to be freaked out around him any more than she already was.

"Uh, I'm not wearing perfume."

"…Oh," was all Benson could muster as he flushed slightly red. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

"Don't worry about it Benson," Audrey said reassuringly. "I know what you're going through must be hard and I probably could never understand what it must be like to go through all this. But I still want to stay beside you during it."

"W-Why?" Benson asked baffled. "I thought…I thought that you would never want to see much less speak to me again after you found out the truth. And that after everything that's happened, you would have just seen me as some kind of freak."

"Benson," Audrey started with slight bemusement. "I would _never _think that! Even if you do have a bit of a temper on you, so what? Everyone has his or her faults."

"Yeah well, it's too bad Maellard doesn't feel the same way," Benson muttered under his breath but Audrey, who was straining to hear him from the other side of the door, heard him regardless.

"Well who cares what he or that researcher or his assistant or anyone else has to say," Audrey asserted. "When _I_ look at you I don't see a Rage Wolf or a freak, I just see the funny, sweet gumball machine that I've fallen for."

"What?" Benson questioned making sure he had heard that last part right. Audrey blushed and placed a hand over her mouth at what she had just let slip. "You…you really like me that much?" Benson asked stunned. Audrey was silent for a minute before she spoke again.

"Yes…I do," Audrey admitted. "I have since the first time we met. I understand if you don't feel the same way but—"

"That's not it at all!" Benson exclaimed his full attention on the woman who stood beyond the door. "The truth is…I really like you a lot too Audrey. You were one of the things that kept me sane whenever I had a bad day. Today included. I've always wanted to impress you because I thought that if you saw me for who I really was, some lonely park manager with an anger problem that…that I'd lose the only bit of comfort I had in my life."

"Benson," Audrey started clearly affected by his words. Benson turned away from the door slightly in embarrassment. He couldn't believe he just told Audrey all that, even if it _was_ true. "Is this door locked?" Audrey suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Benson uttered questioningly. "Uh, no. Why do you—" Benson started confused but the sound of the door opening cut him off. He turned to see Audrey come into the room and close the door behind her. "Audrey?" Before he could do or say anything more she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him, pulling the hybrid gumball machine into a hug. Benson immediately stiffened in surprise at first but slowly relaxed and melted into her embrace. He returned the hug, careful not to let his sharp claws get tangled in the threads of Audrey's sweater. Being slightly shorter than Audrey, he was able to rest his head against her shoulder as he turned his head slightly to the side and inhaled her scent. They stayed like that motionless for a good minute and Benson wished it could last forever. Unfortunately, the sound of several paws thudding against the earth caused Benson's ears to perk up in alarm. Benson broke the hug and turned his attention towards the still open window.

"Benson?" Audrey asked confused by his sudden behavior. He did not answer right away as his ears twitched and swiveled as he tried to get an accurate estimate. "Benson what is it?" Audrey repeated again, worry creeping into her voice. Benson finally turned to face her, wolf-like eyes wide with fear.

"They're coming."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Whew, the drama and not to mention length of this overall chapter! I realize that Benson might seem a little OOC in this chapter but this is sort of intended because it's meant to dive more into the part of Benson we don't normally see from the angry, sarcastic gumball machine that we all know best from the actual show. I was also a little stuck on which direction I wanted to go during the Rage Wolf psychic link scene. In the end I went for what was written. I also really wanted to write in that fluffy little Benson x Audrey moment. Poor guy needed some love before he fell into absolute depression. And I know that in the show they're technically dating but it seems more passive than an actual mutual relationship since it they hardly spend any time together or it isn't hinted that they spend time together nearly as often as they should if they're actually dating and I wanted to show it as more of a serious relationship (I know it's not supposed to be a major focus of the show but again, Muscle Man and Starla have had more screen time together then Benson and Audrey have). Nonetheless I enjoyed it even though romance isn't really my thing. Anyways, the next chapter will not be up for a while because I've been having a bad case of writer's block but hopefully I'll get over it (the heat hasn't been helping). Until the next chapter, please read, review and enjoy!**


	8. NOTICE!

Hello readers. First of all I want to apologize for the lack of updating; things have been very chaotic latley. First off my laptop crashed a few weeks ago and I lost everything, including all my job applications and chapters I have completed and are working on. I've also been busy helping my Mom with a major yard renovation project and to make matters worse my sister has been in the hospital for both a kidney infection and to get her appendix removed. She is undergoing the surgery today so we will be flying to Texas to take care of her while she heals (hopefully before her wedding at the end of the month. Talk about bad timing DX). Anyways because of all these reasons, along with a bad case of writer's block, I will be putting "Member of the Pack" on a temporaryhiatus. I have every intent of finishing this story but right now I can't work on it or say when I'll be posting chapters again. Once the craziness ends and I work through my writer's block this notice will be deleted in place of a new chapter. I hope this doesn't deter any of my readers and apologize once more for the late update but I hope to see and hear from you all once this story picks up again!


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